


A Double Life

by Amonae



Series: Due Diligence [1]
Category: Young Avengers
Genre: (sorry not sorry), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, But first angst, F/M, Happy Ending (I Promise), M/M, Slow Build, So much angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-05
Updated: 2016-01-01
Packaged: 2018-03-21 07:58:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 135,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3684345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amonae/pseuds/Amonae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"For a few brief moments, he wasn’t thinking of a case or the tower of paperwork on his desk. He was thinking of deep brown eyes and flushed pale cheeks."</p><p>Teddy Altman is a detective in training, working his way towards his own firm when he gets a case he isn't sure if he can handle. A young man has gone missing, and his parents are on the hunt for him, but nothing is what it seems and the case keeps throwing him curve balls. Not to mention, his mind keeps getting wrapped up with a University student who looks strikingly like the person Teddy's looking for.</p><p>An AU of sorts, taking into account what may have happened had the Avengers never disbanded and had taken down Kang the Conqueror themselves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Runaway

**Author's Note:**

> I have been struggling with this mess of a fic for well over a few years now, waffling back and forth on whether it made sense to keep on with it or just leave it to die. Recently I fell back into the fandom, and fell in love all over again with these dorks.
> 
> Thank you to Kuchen for helping with all of my whining and indecision, and for going through this chapter (not once, but TWICE) with a fine-tooth comb to help me catch any snags. I look forward to showing you guys the first chapter, and I hope you keep reading~
> 
> Chapters will update on a regular basis, always the first weekend of every month. I have myself on a pretty strict writing schedule as part of my day-to-day, so the only time chapters will be late is if I’m ill or have other serious obligations.

  _**“Crazy's what they think about me** _

_**Ain't gonna stop cause they tell me so** _

_**Cause 99 miles per hour baby,** _

_**Is how fast that I like to go.”** _

_The Walker by Fitz and the Tantrums_

 

The day had been excruciatingly long and filled with more surprises than he could usually manage. First the coffee machine in the break room had been out of filters, which meant seeking caffeine outside of the office. Then he had spilled half of his slightly-more-palatable coffee on the way back from the convenience store around the corner, stumbling on the same corner that always seemed to trip him up as he hurried across the busy intersection. This series of unfortunate events was brought to a close by a swift return to his office, which should have been a quiet sanctuary at this time of the morning. However, the tiny room was currently crammed with four unhappy bodies and was anything but calming or quiet. His rule of thumb was no more than two or three people in his office--if the broom-closet sized space could even be called that--at a time. From the sneer on his partner’s face, her back pressed tight against the ficus in the corner, she hadn’t expected this either.

“Ah, Altman! Good, good. This is Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd.” His supervisor pointed to the couple sharing one of the two available chairs, the wife huddled into the seat with a handkerchief to her eyes, while her husband perched on the arm looking both alert and nervous. Mr. Shepherd jumped up and strode toward the door, intent on ambushing the young man with a bombardment of questions before the latter could even remove his coat.

“Mr Altman,” he boomed, with the look of a man who already believed the authorities to be useless, which means this hadn’t been their first stop. He stuck out his hand rather reluctantly, waiting on reciprocation. Shuffling a hand through his scattered blond locks, Teddy proceeded to shake Mr. Shepherd’s hand.

“Pleased to meet you, Mr. Shepherd, despite the, er, circumstances...?” Looking to the dark-haired woman behind his desk, he was dispirited to see her shoulders rise and fall in a shrug. She hadn’t been privy to information about this situation either, which means it had to have been set up by...

His supervisor (Rick, the likely culprit) cleared his throat, and finally thought to hand over the file folder he'd been fiddling with for god only knows how long. “I trust you can take care of this, eh, Altman?”

Sighing a little, Teddy opened the file and flipped through the first few pages quickly, knowing how disorganized he already seemed to the middle-aged couple sitting before him, his potential clients. Really, he wouldn’t blame them if they walked out right then and there. Unfortunately, they just watched him with expectant eyes.

At some point, he would have to sit down and explain to Rick Morton how he needed more than a few seconds to understand a situation, and maybe even be ready for when people showed up unannounced in his own office. An inkling of what sort of case file he was getting himself into would have really been useful.

He was aware of two sets of eyes on the top of his golden head while he sifted through pages of information, most of which was neatly-typed lines of text in basic forms (provided by the police) and hastily scribbled notes on a coffee-stained piece of notepaper (provided by Rick). The first were bland and unhelpful, but provided definite facts. The second were wild and accusatory, and were likely lines taken straight from the client’s mouth, therefore not necessarily to be trusted.

Wrapping his head around all of the information in front of him, sipping slowly at the corner station coffee that was now on its way to being room temperature, he glanced at the couple and carefully gauged their dispositions. It was part of his job to find out who was lying and who wasn’t--it wasn’t always the person or people who hired him that were in the right. However, this pair seemed obviously distraught about their loss and he set down the folder, ready to discuss.

He'd come across the photograph paper-clipped to the edge of one of the middle sheets, even though it should have been front and center. A rather moody-looking young man glared back at him through the matte finish, stark white hair and snide look the first thing that caught his attention. Bringing that page to the front of the folder, he settled it within their view.

“Thomas Shepherd. Our son.”

Glancing between them, he realized that this boy looked like neither of his parents, though he didn't let his caffeine-deprived brain lag enough to make that comment aloud. Instead he put on his best 'helping' smile and closed the file. “He's been missing for a week, correct? I'm sure he'll still be in the city, especially if he doesn't have a lot of his own funding. We'll get his cell phone records and I'm sure we can find him in no time. Don't worry, Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd. We'll have your son home before you know it.”

Momentarily, Mr. Shepherd seemed pleased. Teddy knew they had gone through a private group, spent an exuberant amount of money just to turn up a bunch of empty leads. The invoice from the private agency has been one of the first pages in the file and though it was hardly relevant to the case, it showed that the couple was serious about trying to find their missing son. He wanted to try and help them, even if it came about that he couldn’t be of use. Still seeming wary of the detective’s experience, Mr. Shepherd helped his wife from the armchair since the poor woman was barely coherent of her surroundings. She must have been close to their son for such a drastic flow of emotion to be rolling off her, which only made Teddy want to help them more. Rick led them through the door and back through the interior of the station, allowing the blond detective a moment to finally hang up his coat and frumpy hat.

“Kate, how long were they in here before I got back?” he asked, rubbing the back of his neck as he moved to settle into one of the overstuffed armchairs. He really needed to take a better look over those files and orient himself on exactly what they were facing.

Kate's blue eyes flashed a little and she stalked around the desk, leaning her palms on the front of it and bracing her weight while she glowered at him. “Only ten minutes, but Rick just _barged_ in here like he owned the place. Jesus, Ted. You can't just let him keep springing this shit on you!”

“It's all right,” Teddy whispered, though it really wasn't. He could see her brows twitch upwards, but she managed to calm herself just enough to get them from indignant surprise back to subtle irritation. It was now going on three weeks without so much as an afternoon to himself, but he couldn’t bring himself to turn away work--not when his work involved people coming to him and pouring out their souls over his scratched-up desk. He might not be able to fix certain aspects of his own life, but by living through theirs he felt like he was doing something worthwhile.

Kate didn’t think that was healthy. She was always encouraging him to go out and be with people, real people who didn’t have their problems laid out before him the second they met. But Teddy was finding less time for anything even remotely resembling a social life, and with another case shoved onto his plate, he was debating on whether he should cut out sleep or eating next. He could see her still glowering across the marred surface of his desk. “Really Kate, I’ll be fine. Thank you.” He turned his eyes back to the file in front of him, swirling the murky sludge of cold coffee around in the bottom of his cup.

Heaving a sigh, Kate stalked from the office and let the door swing shut behind her. Teddy wasn’t fazed--she tended to be spit-fire at best and emotionally threatening at worst, but that's what made her perfect to keep him on track. Kate was never afraid to kick his butt back onto the proper course when his mind strayed to a particularly inconsequential fact or trail. She meant well and worried for him (unnecessarily, he might add) but she always let her temper get to the better of her when she got defensive. He knew it meant she cared, but others usually found it stand-offish. They had gone through training together and Teddy found he gravitated towards her aloof sort of humor, the dry jests and aggressive defense she went on for those she was close to. This is why she was usually butting heads with their supervisor and this time, he really didn’t blame her--he was well overdue for a day off and all of the surprise cases Rick kept throwing in his direction were wearing him down.

Before he'd realized it time had crawled forward nearly an hour, and he was still staring at the picture of the young man before him. He was trying to piece together a backstory from the fragments of information he had received, but it wasn’t much to go on. Thomas had been in a high-security detention centre for several months a few years back, but that could have been due to any number of incidents. The police report was vague, mentioning only small-scale break and enters, a number of petty theft incidents and…

“A 510?” Teddy muttered, flipping back through the files again. He was fairly certain that Thomas didn’t have a license, let alone a vehicle, and if that was the case that a 510 should have been accompanied by a higher scale theft charge or carjacking. Maybe a relative had loaned him a vehicle, or he’d taken it, and they didn’t press charges?

He was puzzling his way through the concept of how there could be a speeding or racing vehicle charge on a file with no mention of a car theft, when he was interrupted. There was a warm mug pressing impatiently against his left shoulder, held by a rather irate hand. Though her gaze was decidedly elsewhere, Teddy couldn't help but smile.

“Thank you, Kate.”

“You're welcome. You should really stop biffing it on that curb. It's a waste of mediocre coffee.”

“I'll keep that in mind.”

~~~~~~ 

“And who can tell me which is the largest religious center in the Maya area? Mr. Kaplan?”

The dark-haired youth had barely managed to sneak through the back of the lecture hall and sandwich himself between his two friends, having missed his first two buses by only a few seconds. For a brief moment, he thought he'd been safe but obviously the ‘almighty’ Jonas had spotted him. Sometimes, Billy swore the professor had eyes in the back of his head, lurking somewhere behind the messily-cropped hair. Or he was a robot.

After an uncomfortable pause with the rest of the class looking on expectantly, Billy managed to string together what he assumed would be enough of an answer. “I believe it was the palace at Cancuén, even though there aren't any of the typical pyramid structures there." Beside him Cassie held her breath, staring forward at the lines of text on the smartboard but sneaking sideways glances when she thought no one could see her do so.

While Jonas didn't seem entirely impressed with the answer, the dark line of his mouth twitched a little and he turned back to his notes. "Very well, Mr. Kaplan. But there was also the fact that the palace..."

"Pst, Billy. You really need to stop pushing his buttons," Cassie whispered, tucking a wisp of blond hair behind her ear as he sat beside her. She had that look on her face as though she were about to start lecturing him, though even she wouldn't start on that tangent while they were still in class. "One of these days he's just going to flip his lid and--"

"You had something to add, Miss Lang?"

"N-no Sir!"

Beside them their companion was hunched over his notes, eyes towards the front and decidedly ignoring them. Their conversation had died and was replaced by the sound of pen on paper while Jonas lectured at the front of the room about ancient civilizations and the gods they worshipped. Billy’s attention wandered to his own gods, scribbling a tiny Thor with a tiny hammer in the corner of his notes. He glanced towards Cassie’s notes, her neat scrawl capturing nearly every word that came out of their professor’s mouth. She would probably fill up at least two notebooks per class by the end of the semester, pouring over them before a test and making more concise notes to study from. Eli barely jotted down two words per lesson, just highlighting the essentials and relying on his memory, textbooks, and research to get him through--he usually ended up aceing whatever classes he took.

Billy, on the other hand… Was doodling a mini Iron Man and Cap to go with his mini Thor. When a class failed to grip his attention in the first week, he usually had a hard time staying focused. The only reason he was taking this class in the first place was because Cassie had convinced him and Eli it was a good idea.

“Come on, you guys!” She’d insisted, shoving the example syllabus towards them. “It sounds like a really cool class!”

“The History of Ancient Civilizations and Religions?” Eli glanced at her with a raised brow. “Really? This is the class you’re dead-set on taking as your one arts option?”

“Well maybe I want to switch majors!” she insisted, glancing over to Billy for support. “You’re with me on this, right?”

“Uh…” He was going to protest, saying that history wasn’t really his thing or that he already had a class in that slot, but Cassie was already unleashing her full pout on him. “Yeah, sure. I don’t see why not. C’mon Eli, it should be a blast.” Billy nudged the sullen young man beside him, watching Eli glare over the syllabus and analyze the course-load.

“There are only two exams and three papers, so sure. Seems like an easy class,” he conceded, tucking the syllabus neatly away among his notes. “I’ll register when I get home.”

“Great!” Cassie chimed, grinning at the other two. “Then we get to have a class together too!” She was already gathering her things, tucking them away into her obnoxiously neon backpack. “Speaking of class, I have to run. And, oh! I almost forgot. Apparently the professor for this class is really awesome!” She was already dashing off to class as she shouted the last part of her sentence.

Billy and Eli exchanged a glance.

“So that means she thinks he’s hot, right?”

Eli wrinkled his nose. “How am I supposed to know?”

“Right, I guess I’ll be the judge.” Billy fished out his phone, sifting through the History Department’s staff pages until he came across a ‘Jonas Richards.’ He tilted his phone to enlarge the photo as best he could, then squinted at it.

“Yeah, I guess he’s kind of up Cassie’s alley.” He shoved the phone in front of the other’s face, who grunted in response.

“How would I know?”

“Didn’t you guys, you know…?”

Eli glowered at him. “It was **one date**. And it didn’t work out, obviously. So how would I know what her type is?”

“Sorry, sorry. Didn’t mean to press the Hulk switch,” Billy teased, raising his hands in mock defense. Eli had tapered off into a sour mood so Billy had taken to reading the syllabus more thoroughly.

Billy had no idea what he’d gotten himself into. The class started at 8:00 in the morning, which meant getting up at least fifteen minutes before and running out the door at break-neck speed to make it in time. The three papers that Eli had pointed out wound up being a minimum of ten pages each, and the topics generally soared above Billy’s head. Cassie and Eli, however, seemed to be doing quite well in the class so Billy felt as though he needed to tough it out with them.

By the end of class, Billy’s page was mostly covered with stick-figure Avengers and a few sporadic blasts of notes in speech bubbles. He managed to stay awake through the whole lesson, and Jonas didn’t call on him again so he felt as though he were actually starting the day alright, minus the being late.

"How did your essay turn out, Billy?" Cassie chirped as they were packing up their things.

His pencil made it halfway to his backpack before he paled, looking between his two friends with a sense of panic. "That wasn't due _today_ , was it?!"

Chuckling, Eli gave him a pointed look. "Leave it to you to not even know what damn day it is."

Sensing Billy’s sudden downward spiral, Cassie huffed and gave their third friend a look. She settled her hand on a tense shoulder gently. "No, no. It's due after the weekend. But I'm finished and Eli's almost done, so I thought it would be good to swap ideas. But if you haven't started..."

"Of course I've started!" he lied, cursing himself internally. He'd completely forgotten, the one paper getting lost in the shuffle of his other classes. And in the influx of new comic book issues on his desk, but that was besides the point. "I was just going to go edit it now!"

"Oh great," she replied, grinning and not catching on to the blatant mistruth. "So which topic did you decide on? Maybe we did the same one."

"Uh... the first one?"

Eli snorted as he pushed his textbooks back into his bag, barely managing to stretch the zipper shut. "He hasn't done shit, Cassie. He’s got that look of panic all over his face he always gets when you remind him about something he hasn’t done."

She frowned and punched Eli, eliciting a quiet protest. "Why did you punch **me**...?"

"You better get started on that, Billy. Or you're gonna be sorry," she muttered, slinging her bag over her shoulder and leaving the two boys behind.

“I don’t suppose you’d be willing to give me a hand…?” While he could usually manage to cajole Cassie into giving him a hand with any educational mishap he’d managed to get himself into, his wheedling only managed to get a glowering look from Eli.

“You have got to be kidding, right?”

“Please?”

“Not a chance.”

“Pretty please with a cherry on top? I’ll let you copy my notes for the rest of term!”

“You mean your stick figure X-Men?”

“Um, hello? They’re the Avengers, obviously.”

“Yeah, still going to pass on that.”

Eli was already slinging his backpack over his shoulder, heading off to his next class while Billy scooped up his own bag in a hurry and trailed after him.

“I’ll buy your lunch tomorrow?”

“No.”

“I’ll buy your lunch for a _week_.”

“Again, no.”

“I’ll give you my whole collection of Aquaman! To borrow…”

“You really think that would get you a yes?”

“Um, okay well how about…”

“Damnit Kaplan, no!” Eli finally bristled when they reached the door, glowering at the other before turning to head for his next class.

Billy sighed and let him go, rustling a hand through his dark hair and making it stand at attention. He had roughly a two hour break before his next class, since usually his schedule didn’t start prior to noon, and he wondered how much of a head start he could get with so little time. He could probably manage to decide on a topic, at the very least.

“Ten pages. On my desk by Monday. Have a nice weekend, Kaplan,” Jonas mumbled to Billy on his way out the door, traces of a grin on his face.

‘ _Malicious professor robot_.’ Billy made the executive decision to skip his other two classes, which didn’t have essays due on Monday, and head to the 24-hour cafe near campus. At least that way, he could feel like he was being productive.

~~~~~~ 

After several hours at the precinct, and very little of it productive due to Rick bringing in two more clients (which Teddy directed to the proper offices for their requirements), he finally decided that it was time to move his work elsewhere. Or it was possibly the series of badgering texts from Kate, once she realized the time and that he was _still_ at the office, that finally sent him home with his stack of paperwork. At least then he could tell her yes, he was home--even if he was still working.

There were a few red flags popping up throughout the Shepherd case that were throwing him off his usual methods. First, there was the police report which was conflicting at the best of times. Second, the information from his parents was sparse at best, seeming to only follow the last five or so years of the young man’s life. Generally, runaways had years of bad rap on them before they just took off, not just a few instances spread over a few years. It was likely they were keeping something from the investigation and while it wasn’t illegal to do so, it wasn’t very helpful either.

Teddy shifted the strap of his satchel over his shoulder, the bulky leather body of the bag stuffed to the brim with every bit of information he managed to pull on both Thomas Shepherd and his parents. The stack that turned up was more than enough evidence that he was missing vital details about the case, but he wasn’t keen to start pouring through years of information--much of which would turn out to be useless. He lived only a few short blocks from the station, but the pressure of the bag on his body was a steady reminder that he was overworking himself.

The small brick building that housed his apartment seemed especially welcoming today, sun hitting the muted facade and making it look warm and inviting as opposed to cracked and decaying as it normally appeared. Teddy shifted the bag out of his way to get the door unlocked and check his mailbox in the entryway. Sifting through the stack of junk mail, he took the stairs to his fourth floor apartment. He twisted his second key in the lock while reading over a pamphlet for a new Thai food place that looked promising.

An empty home greeted him and the silence was relaxing after a day of ringing phones, shuffling paper, and a constant buzzing in his left ear. A buzzing that was almost gone, finally. Now a distinct headache was settling in its place. He dumped his keys into a dish on a small table by the door and set the stack of mail beside it. Removing his coat, he found its hanger and placed it carefully back into the closet while he slid his loafers beneath the table. Adjusting his bag again, he headed for what should have been his dining room table, but had ended up as his work desk instead. The surface was littered with manilla folders and scrawled notes from previous case files. Allocating them to the appropriate folders, he stacked the resolved ones in a neat pile on the floor, letting the Shepherd file take their place.

“Where are you, Thomas?” he mumbled, running his thumb across his lower lip before flipping through the youth's past records of employment. Hum-drum and simplistic jobs, part-time gigs that any teenager could have held down. Decent marks in high school, but no obvious intent to pursue post-secondary education. There wasn’t a whole lot indicating a troubled home life, minus the stint in Juvie due to a contradictory incident (which could have just been poor police record-keeping).

Heaving a sigh, he stared at the papers spread before him and pressed his palm against the strain he felt in his neck. Though he’d poured over a good chunk of the information back at the office, he still had an awful lot to go through. Thomas’s parents were very prevalent members of their community and they seem to have reported just about anything they considered a mild nuisance. As such, they had just about a mountain of paperwork to go through on their backgrounds alone. Teddy glanced at the clock and realized he had been tugging his hair in a vice-grip for nearly two hours. It suddenly made sense why all the words in front of him were starting to blend together.

Though it was well past midnight, and most places would be closed, he pulled on a dark green sweater and left his apartment. There was still one place nearby that was open all hours of the night where he could get his necessary caffeine fix.

Teddy locked up his apartment and headed out to Java Jive.

~~~~~~

The soft tones of Julie London’s _Blue Moon_ was rolling through the speakers of the small cafe, keeping the late-night patrons in a calming lull with quieted voices. The dark-haired young man in the corner was finding it hard not to nod off to the sound of smooth jazz.

“Just one more paragraph,” Billy sighed, staring down at his laptop wearily. He had managed to pick a topic and drag some references from the ‘net, but he had barely managed to write the first page. He stared at the words he had already written and it took every ounce of his willpower not to just delete the whole thing. Leaning back in the overstuffed armchair he had taken over, he decided it couldn’t hurt to close his eyes for just a few minutes…

~~~~~~

By the time he arrived at the small cafe, Teddy’s shoulders and back felt stiff from the walk, despite how short it had been. He knew he should take it as a sign, that he was getting over-exhausted and should take some time off work, but with a new case on his plate and some of the old ones so close to completion, he felt as though he couldn’t stop now. It was sheer luck, and mutual connections through Kate, that he had managed to land this job in the first place. He wasn’t about to pull back now, not when he felt like Rick was watching and analyzing every move he made.

He couldn’t afford to slow down. Or make mistakes.

The cafe was quiet, but not slow by any means. Nearly every table was filled with students, pouring over projects or papers, things that had been left to the very last minute. Only the truly screwed would be using their Friday to work the night away in a place like this. Teddy chuckled to himself and headed to the register, pressing a palm against his weary eyes.

“What can I do ya for?” the girl behind the counter chirped, her smile widening when she saw the familiar blond man. “Oh! The usual for ya, detective?”

“Yeah, thanks. Busy day?” he asked, returning the girl’s smile.

“Oh, as always. It’s slowed down a fair bit from the last round of exams though. How have you been, Mr. Altman? Solved any huge crimes yet?”

“I told you Meg, it’s Teddy. You don’t have to call me Mister. It makes me feel too old.” Chuckling, he paid for his latte, which she was already handing to him without him even placing the order. Sometimes he thought he came to fuel-up here too often, but it was hard not to when he kept the kind of hours he did. There weren’t a whole lot of other options in the area.

“Well you are kinda _old_ ,” she teased, winking at him. “I’ll get ya a refill in a bit, you’re gonna chill here for a spell, yeah?”

Teddy returned her smile, rolling his eyes. “Yeah. I’ll find a spare seat… somewhere.”

He wandered through the crowded space, trying to find a single spot that wasn’t occupied by bodies or book bags. There were a few spots closer to the windows, where light from the street spilled in. It was then he noticed him, the young man asleep in one of the armchairs.

The glow from the streetlamps showcased his features, pale skin and high cheekbones. Narrow jaw and dark hair. Very distinctly looking like the youth Teddy had been trying to find. He glanced over at the laptop on the small table, wiggling his finger on the mousepad to see what was currently pulled up. Thankfully, there didn’t appear to be a lock screen activated. He set his latte on the edge of the table while he read what appeared on the monitor.

What he couldn’t understand is why Thomas appeared to be _actually_ writing a college-level paper; either he was highly dedicated to his cover, or he was attending the post-secondary institution under a different name. Which seemed a lot more complicated than would generally be possible for a twenty-year old to pull off.

“Can I help you…?” he heard the bleary voice before he realized that the youth was awake, or in the process of waking up.

Teddy turned and found himself staring into brown, not green, eyes. They blinked at him slowly, while he tried to figure out whether or not the other was wearing contacts. After a moment, brown eyes narrowed at him slightly, tinged with confusion.

“Seriously, um… Can I help you with something?”

Backing off, he could see that there were subtle differences between this youth and the one he was looking for. His chin was narrower, lips with a much slighter bow to them. The dark-haired young man cleared his throat and Teddy had to push back a flush that threatened to spread across his cheeks when he realized how intently he had been staring. The lack of sleep and overload of caffeine had turned him into a creeper.

“Oh, jeez I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to go full Johnny Blaze on you. You just look a lot like someone I know, that’s all.”

“Well I’m glad you went with the Penance Stare instead of incinerating me in my sleep,” he quipped back, rubbing at his eyes. “Glad to see I’m not the only nerd in this place tonight.”

Teddy motioned to the armchair across from him. “Hey, being a total nerd and creeper aside, do you mind if I take that chair? The place seems pretty full tonight, but I’ll grab you a refill as an apology for the, well, indiscretion,” he offered, showcasing his best ‘I am an idiot, but a harmless idiot’ smile. “I’m Teddy, by the way.”

“Billy,” the other offered, holding up his nearly-empty cup. “And it’s just a tea, green please.”

Teddy reached out to grab the cup from him, fingers briefly brushing against Billy’s. He felt a quickening in his chest, and he retrieved the ceramic mug in a hurry to avoid thinking about it too much. “One green tea, coming right up.”

As he approached the counter, he glanced at the mug in his hands, the cold green liquid swaying back and forth.

‘ _Not green..._ ’ he thought, wondering how there could be someone who looked so much like the runaway Shepherd right in front of him. Coincidence? Twins separated at birth? Every conclusion he came to was more obscure than the last, and none of them were the least bit likely. His best bet was that it was chance, and he’d just harassed some poor University student who was catching a nap between essay sentences.

“Ya need another latte, Mr. Altman?” Before he’d realized it, Teddy had arrived at the counter, and Meg was beaming at him all over again. He wondered what her secret was, how she could be so chipper when she was working an overnight shift surrounded by stressed-out students and hipsters who had insomnia (before it was cool).

“Ah, no. Just a green tea, please,” he replied, offering her the mug which she promptly went to refill. Meg was trying to chat him up, but his attention had drifted back to the table by the window, where the young man he’d no doubt both confused and annoyed was texting on his phone, unaware that Teddy was staring again.

“Here y’are.” She held the steaming mug out to him, which Teddy took and handed her some cash.

“Thanks, keep the change.” He headed back to the table, clearing his throat to announce his return. “Hey, got your fix.”

Billy took the mug from him, wrapping his hands around the heated ceramic, his breath ghosting across the surface. His brown eyes shifted from the tea in his hands to the man in front of him. “So, Teddy. Any reason you seem to be so interested in my history paper?”

Teddy settled in the chair across from him, retrieving his own latte from the table and twisting a hand through his hair. “I can’t really say too much, just that… I’m looking for someone, and you look a whole lot like him. So I was looking at your computer to see what you were working on, hoping it might give me a clue. I don’t think the person I’m looking for would be writing a University paper on ancient history though.”

“I don’t think that you can call the word vomit I’ve produced so far a real paper,” Billy chuckled, taking a cautious sip of his tea. His immediate reaction, pulling the mug away and letting a breath pass through pursed lips, was enough to let Teddy know that the tea was too hot.

“By any chance, do you happen to know anyone named Thomas Shepherd?” Teddy reached across and removed the mug from the other’s hands, setting it on the table. “And you might want to leave that for a few minutes.”

He watched a subtle flush spread across pale cheeks and smiled. Billy cleared his throat and looked out the window, into the quiet late-night streets. “No. The name really isn’t familiar. Sorry.”

It was a long shot, and he didn’t really expect that Thomas would be hanging around a University campus so close to home, but it was worth a try. “Doesn’t happen to be your secret identity or something?”

Billy laughed, shaking his head. “No, I’m pretty sure if I had a super hero identity I’d go with something a little more interesting than Thomas Shepherd. Like, I don’t know… Asgardian.”

“Asgardian?” Teddy hid his amusement by taking a sip of  his drink, his mouth wide in a grin. “That’s… interesting,” he mumbled behind the safety of ceramic.

“I’ll have you know, it’s a super cool name,” Billy insisted, looking back at at the blond with a mock-anger before closing the lid on his laptop. “So why are you looking for this Thomas person? Or are you FBI and can’t give me any information?”

“I can’t tell you and no, I’m not FBI.”

“Stalker?”

“No, not a stalker,” Teddy replied, rolling his eyes. He finished the last sip of his latte and glanced at his watch. “I think I’d better get going. I still have work to do, just came here for a quick break. If you do happen to run into anyone by the name Thomas Shepherd, could you give me a call?” He pulled his wallet from the back pocket of his jeans, retrieving a business card and holding it out across the table. “And again, I’m sorry about the whole mistaken identity thing.”

Billy looked from his closed laptop and quickly-cooling tea to the slim piece of paper before reaching out and taking it gingerly by one corner. His eyes flickered to Teddy’s face before scanning over the card in his hand. “Ah hah, you’re a cop!”

“Not quite,” Teddy replied with a chiding grin. He stood up, taking the empty ceramic mug with him. He offered a slight wave of his hand as he left, dropping the mug at the nearest bussing station. For a few brief moments, he wasn’t thinking of a case or the tower of paperwork on his desk. He was thinking of deep brown eyes and flushed pale cheeks.

~~~~~~

Turning the business card over in his hands, Billy let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. “See you around, Teddy Altman,” he whispered, watching Teddy leave the cafe, following his path as far as the window would let him. In his pocket, his cell phone buzzed, alerting him of the incoming text message. He’d ignored the last few buzzes, so by this point be was pretty sure that Cassie was freaking out. He slid his thumb across the screen to unlock it, chuckling at the series of messages that had popped up.

 **BILLY:** _So this guy was watching me sleep at Java Jive._

 **CASSIE:** _OMG WHAT??? r u ok?_

_Is he cute?_

_Hello? Billy??_

_r u talking 2 him rn?_

_BILLY DEETS_

_ur totally making out rn, right?_

He replied with a quick ‘tell u tomorrow’ before holding the business card side-by-side with his phone. Catching his lower lip between his teeth, he worried at it for a moment before adding the number to his contacts list. Billy opened up his laptop and started on his paper again, half-heartedly hoping that he would actually accomplish something tonight.

~~~~~~

The weekend passed quickly, too quickly for the blond who had spent most of it cooped up in his tiny office, sorting through the stacks of paper on his desk. He had one pile labeled “facts,” another labeled “misleading,” and yet another with a great big “???” in front of it. Kate had already chewed him out over most of Monday and had now moved on to the sullen silence she got when she was done arguing and found herself more irate than actually upset. This too would pass, usually after Teddy apologized and promised to take more time off.

“Here,” she huffed, setting his coffee mug down with a little more force than necessary. “You look like shit. Did you sleep at all last night?”

“Thank you, and yeah. A little.” He took a long swig from the mug, glad that she was at least willing to talk to him today.

Kate shook her head and sat in one of the chairs across from him, pulling the “misleading” stack towards her and beginning to sift through. She lifted a noise complaint off the top of the pile. “This one is misleading?” she asked, raising a brow.

“It was filed by their neighbours quite a few years back. They claimed they heard an explosion, but there was no evidence of anything like that at the Shepherd’s place. Thomas probably had the TV up too loud or something, he was only twelve at the time.”

“That must have been one hell of a television set to be loud enough for them to call the cops…”

Teddy lifted a shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. “Honestly, the whole neighbourhood seemed to be full of people who would report anything and everything. One of the other ones claimed that the kid had burned wheelies in their yard with his _bicycle_.”

“So how do you explain the evidence?” she asked, holding up the photo that was attached to the file. There was a very distinct loop etched into the grass, dirt kicked up at all angles.

“An animal? Or maybe some kind of a chemical vandalism? Maybe a kid buried a string of firecrackers in there for all I know. The reports are kind of all over the place for this family.”

Kate leaned her elbow on the desk as they continued to sift through the papers, trying to find a hint of where the young man would have gone. There were no family members listed as living in-country, and he wouldn’t be able to cross any borders without his passport triggering a red flag at customs. Teddy couldn’t get the nagging feeling out of the back of his head that he was missing something, that maybe that sleepy student at the coffee shop knew something, or the Shepherds were keeping information from him.

His attention wandered back to the details of Billy’s face, wondering if he’d missed something in the twist of a smile in his lips, or the flash of color in his cheeks. Teddy found his own cheeks lighting up and across from him, his partner cleared her throat, eyes not leaving the paper she was flipping over.

“Oh, and you have Saturday off. I threatened to quit and take you with me if Rick didn’t agree. So you’re coming out with me, I’m meeting with friends at the park.”

Teddy opened his mouth to protest, but knew it would be useless. If he didn’t go, Kate might just stay mad at him for all eternity, and he enjoyed her company too much to have her angry with him all the time. “Yes ma’am.”

“I’ll pick you up at ten and we can take my car. Yours is still a piece of--”

“Hey, that car has gotten me--”

“Yeah, yeah, halfway across the country and back so many times. And how many of those times did it break down two miles out of town, then you called me to come save your sorry ass?”

“Well…” He looked across the table at her, catching the smirk on her lips as she raised her own eyes to meet his.

“Well?”

“Yeah….”

“Yeah,” she agreed, grinning now. Teddy realized his own mouth had slipped into a broad smile without his consent. Kate tended to have a secret method for helping him remember he wasn’t just a working robot, and he needed to unwind sometimes. He laughed before he could stop himself, and she shifted her dark hair over her shoulder with a smile.

“Ten o’clock sharp, Altman. And I expect you to look presentable. I refuse to be seen with you if you’re wearing anything remotely workish.”

“Yes’m.”

~~~~~~

“Billy? Earth to Billy? Come in, Captain Sleepyhead.”

Cassie was prodding her friend as he lay face-down across the table they had commandeered in the library. He groaned, swatting at her hand in a weak attempt to make her stop.

“It’s no good. Leave me to die in peace.”

“Stop being so dramatic,” Eli muttered, not looking up from the textbook he was going through. “It’s just a paper.”

“That I’m definitely going to _bomb_ ,” Billy whined, rolling his head just enough to see that Cassie was watching him with concern and Eli still hadn’t looked up from the textbook. “It was probably the worst thing that’s ever been written in the history of… **ever**!”

Cassie looked to Eli for help, but he was decidedly set on ignoring the scene before him. Huffing, she gently rapped her knuckles on the top of Billy’s head, eliciting a quiet protest. “Stop complaining, you big wuss. Tell you what, if you’re really feeling that down, let’s hang at the park this weekend. We can be horrible students and forget all about school while he gorge ourselves on sketchy cart hot dogs and take in what might be the last of the nice, warm, sunshine before winter starts up.”

“That does sound nice,” Billy mumbled against the table, slowly forcing his lanky body into a sitting position. “Yeah, sure why not.”

“Good. Now that you’re not a giant sad-sack anymore, how about you tell me about that guy from Friday!”

He tried to keep the flush from building on his cheeks, and he quickly turned away to pull a textbook from his backpack. Fumbling with the zipper for a few moments, he tried to sound casual. “Oh, well he was just some cop who thought I was someone else.”

“A cop?” Eli asked, glancing up from the book in front of him.

“Well, an investigator anyway,” he clarified, pulling out his own textbook and flipping it open to the pages he was supposed to read.

“Aaaaaaand?” Cassie pressed, scooting her chair closer to his own. “Was he cute? Come on, you totally didn’t tell me _anything_ about him!”

“There’s really not much to tell,” he insisted, staring at the words before him but not processing any of them. He was trying not to remember the shape of Teddy’s shoulders as he walked away from the cafe or the change in his eyes when he tried hard not to laugh at Billy’s superhero name.

“You’re bluuuuuushing,” Cassie whispered in his ear, making him jump.

“Am not.”

“Are too!”

“Am NOT!”

“Guys,” Eli interrupted, heaving a sigh. “We are still in a library, just in case you’d forgotten.”

Billy glanced up to see several pairs of eyes glowering at them from all corners of the large room. He could feel the heat in his cheeks rising all the way to the tips of his ears.

“Totally blushing.”

“Shut up,” he hissed softly, focusing his attention on his textbook instead of the broad shoulders of a stranger.

~~~~~~

Saturday came faster than he may have liked, but a promise was a promise and Teddy was ready and waiting outside the front of his building at five minutes to ten. He tugged a stray thread from the hem of his sweater, flicking it to the ground and hoping Kate wouldn’t send him back upstairs to change--it had happened on more than one occasion that his outfit didn’t quite meet her criteria. Since he wasn’t sure what they would be doing at the park, he dressed casually in jeans and a Captain America t-shirt, throwing on a chunky green pullover in a last minute decision. He might not have gotten away with the “geek chic” wear as Kate would call it, if he hadn’t gone with the sweater.

He saw her blue Lexus roll around the corner and waved, pulling open the passenger door and getting in while she flicked on her hazards. “What’s with the sweater?” Kate lowered her sunglasses to peer at him over the dark lenses, her look one of barely-disguised disapproval.

“You don’t like it?” he asked, looking down at himself. Okay, maybe it was a little bit on the frumpy side, but it was comfortable and would keep him warm. “It’s cold out,” Teddy protested, frowning a little.

“I brought you a jacket,” Kate replied, pointing to a bag in the back seat. “You can keep it, it was my ex’s anyway. Cleaned out my closet last night and found it.” She turned off the blinking lights and started driving uptown, towards Central Park.

Teddy knew the jacket wasn’t her ex’s, she always made them take what they left or if it ended particularly badly, she burned it. He should know, he’d attended a few rooftop bonfires over the years. But he also knew better than to bring it up, it was always easier just to accept her gifts without any grief. Pulling the sweater over his head, he tossed it in the backseat and retrieved the bag. It was a bomber-style jacket, with ribbed cuffs and tiny belted details across the shoulders. The leather was a deep brown, and Teddy shrugged it on with ease. Kate knew his size more often than he did most days.

“Thanks,” he replied, over the quiet hum of Norah Jones on the radio.

“Don’t mention it,” she drove past the tree-lined streets, eyes flicking across the meridian for parking spots. “So, we’re meeting up with Cassie and a couple of her University friends. You remember Cassie, right?”

“Yeah,” Teddy nodded, not sure how he could forget the daughter of Ant-Man, but he decided to keep his mouth shut on that part. “She’s going to school for molecular biology, right?”

“Uh huh. I mean, she will when she finishes her undergrad,” Kate trailed off, focused on finding a parking spot. “Anyway, I don’t know what the other two guys are like, but no talking about work! This is a no-work day and--AH HAH.” She veered hard to the left, pulling a u-turn and quickly slipping into the parking spot before someone else landed it.

Teddy was clutching the sides of the seat while she got out of the vehicle smoothly, leaning down to peer at him. “You coming or what?” Kate was grinning, so he knew she’d been doing it on purpose. Her grin disappeared when she saw his t-shirt, the shield emblem just barely showing past the open zipper of the jacket. “I should have brought you a shirt too.”

“And ruin my perfect ‘geek chic’ style?” he asked, getting out of the car as well and closing the door behind him. “No way.”

“I should have never taught you that term.”

“And you shouldn’t try to take away a man’s superhero shirts.”

“When will I learn,” she replied, rolling her eyes with an excessive amount of exaggeration. They walked through the edges of the park, passing parents with their children, young couples enjoying the sunshine, groups of performers, numerous carts with a variety of items for sale, and hoards of pigeons.

“Where are we meeting them?” Teddy asked, watching a flock of the fat birds lazily scuttle out of their way on the path before returning to picking crumbs off the asphalt.

Kate dodged around half an abandoned corn dog before resuming her route. She’d chosen a reasonable, yet stylish outfit with a billowy top and dark-wash jeans that highlighted her curves. “By good old Billy of course.”

“What?” he choked, clearing his throat and willing the blush off his face. “I mean, where?”

“By the Shakespeare statue,” she replied, eyeballing him over the top of her shades. “You ok?”

“Yeah, peachy,” he muttered, still trying to compose himself. He hadn’t heard from the youth at all, not like he expected to. There was a slim margin of a chance that Billy would come across Thomas Shepherd, and Teddy hadn’t given him any other reason to contact him. He silently berated himself for wanting such a thing, it wasn’t as though Billy was interested in him that way, and even if he was, Teddy wasn’t entirely sure he was ready to develop any kind of serious relationship, not when his mind was always so absorbed with work.

“Cass!”

He heard Kate yelling by his side, and she was waving broadly for a moment before hurrying towards her friend. There was laughter, and Kate pulled the blond girl into a tight hug before turning around to wave at him. He lifted his hand in a meek response when he saw the two young men loitering around the base of the statue. There was a dark-skinned young man leaning against the concrete base holding Will up, sullen and appearing unhappy to be dragged along on the outing. Beside him, seated with his back against bronze legs, was a lanky boy with unruly dark hair, making him look like he’d just rolled out of bed. He was laughing about something the moody other had said and Teddy could just hear the lilt of his voice from where he stood.

_Billy._

What were the chances?

He continued towards the group as casually as he could, pushing his hands into the pockets of his new jacket to keep from fidgeting. Maybe Billy wouldn’t even remember him, and he could just pretend that the entire episode at Java Jive had been some weird, caffeine-deprived dream.

“Hi Teddy!” Cassie chimed, grabbing his arm and dragging him towards the statue where the other two were waiting. “This is Eli and Billy, they go to NYU with me.” She pointed to each person in turn. Billy’s eyes had snapped up the moment she said Teddy’s name, so he knew that the events at the cafe really had happened and that the young man still remembered it. Cassie seemed oblivious to the recognition in her friend’s eyes. “And this is Teddy, he works with Kate at the precinct.”

“We’re hanging out with cops today, seriously?” Eli muttered, giving Cassie a questioning look which earned him a grumpy frown in return.

“Investigators, actually. And just in-training,” Kate answered, pushing her sunglasses up and letting them rest on her curly dark hair. “Got a problem with that?”

Eli was opening his mouth, ready to retort, but Cassie cut him off quickly. “Ignore him, Kat. He’s just in a sour mood. Let’s go get ice cream!”

“At eleven in the morning?” Teddy asked, raising both brows but everyone was already drifting away into the park, in search of the lone ice cream cart on an October afternoon. He was about to follow them when he heard the gentle cough behind him.

“You sure you’re not a crazy stalker?” Billy asked, letting the trio get ahead of them by a few feet, hearing Eli trying to start another argument already.

“I solemnly swear I did not plan this outing,” he replied, raising both hands defensively. “Kate made me come. Also, did you pick the meeting spot, or am I the only one who thinks that’s hilarious?”

Teddy could see the rise of color in the other’s cheeks before brown eyes darted towards the ground. “No, Cassie did. I don’t even think she caught on to it.” Billy motioned to the red, white, and blue shield peeking through Teddy’s jacket. “You a fan of Cap?”

“Who isn’t?”

“Crazy people. That’s it. No argument.”

They fell into an easy conversation about the Avengers, their battles and triumphs, and who had the best costume. Teddy didn’t even realize how far they had walked until Kate hollered at him from a few feet back.

“Do you two dorks want ice cream or what?” She was holding two cones, jutting the strawberry one out towards Teddy, who jogged back to them sheepishly.

“Sorry,” he whispered, taking the frozen treat from her gratefully. He glanced back towards Billy, who had retrieved his own ice cream from Cassie.

“So you two are really hitting it off,” Kate whispered, smiling like she knew something he didn’t.

“What? Oh, yeah. I kind of ran into him before and he’s pretty big into the superhero stuff too…” Teddy murmured a response through bites.

Kate had both brows raised high on her forehead, obviously curious but deciding not to press any further at this point. Cassie, Eli, and Billy were already rejoining their duo. “Let’s go eat these by the fountain. We might be able to find a seat if we’re lucky.” She pointed off across the green space with her ice cream.

There weren’t any free seats, and the five barely managed to find a free space on the stone edge surrounding the Bethesda fountain. They were squished together, Cassie providing a buffer between Eli and Kate (who were still arguing about something), Teddy with one shoulder pressed to Kate’s, the other against a fidgeting Billy.

“Well this is… cozy,” he offered, clearing his throat nervously. He was fighting to keep the color off his cheeks, especially when he saw how red Billy’s pale complexion was getting. Teddy decided to focus on his ice cream instead.

The park was milling with people, a few tiny boats floating along on the man-made lake beside the fountain, people getting in their last breath of warm weather before everything was surrounded by the unpleasant chill of winter. A couple beside Eli decided to vacate the stone ledge, and the whole group shuffled down. With the seating arrangement not quite as crowded, Teddy and Billy were hardly touching, but if he relaxed, his knee would brush against the other’s gently.

Cassie and Kate kept the conversation flowing easily, so much so that Teddy hardly caught the tail end of Billy’s question.

“--is your favorite?”

Teddy turned to him, noting that Billy was still nursing his ice cream cone, and it had started to melt. There was a fine trail slipping down his finger that Billy quickly caught with his tongue. “Um… sorry?” Teddy asked, focusing his eyes on Billy’s, instead of on his tongue now darting to capture stray ice cream from sticky-sweet lips.

“Which Avenger is your favorite?” Billy repeated, unaware that he was causing such an internal struggle in the blond.

“Oh, hm… That’s a pretty tough question to spring on a guy…” Teddy replied, buying himself a little time to get his thoughts in check.

“Don’t worry, I’m silently judging you based on your decision.”

Catching his bottom lip between his teeth, the blond worried it incessantly while trying to come up with a good answer. Cap would be too obvious--everyone loves Cap. Saying Iron Man would feel like a cop-out too, and he wasn’t sure if he should answer honestly, or try to read Billy’s face and see which Avenger he _should_ chose.

“Dost thou have an answer, peasant?”

Apparently he was taking too long to decide, if Billy was pulling out the Thor accent on him, so he threw one right back. “I declare thou a simpleton, for to chose a single Avenger above the rest… Thou must be a fool! Pray tell, how wouldst I maketh a decision, I couldn’t!”

“Could not.”

Teddy blinked, confused by the sudden break of character. “Sorry?”

“You should have said ‘how wouldst I maketh a decision, I could not!’ Thor doesn’t use contractions,” Billy replied, taking another quick bite of his melting ice cream. “You’d never make it as a professional Thor impersonator, I’m afraid.”

“Damn, there goes my dream job, right out the window,” Teddy teased, catching Billy’s glance before seeing the splotch of vanilla ice cream on the tip of his pointed nose. “Um…”

“What?” Billy asked while staring at him, completely oblivious regarding the sweet treat about to melt a line down his face.

“There’s…” Teddy pointed, keeping his hand a respectable distance from Billy’s pale face, despite the fact that he wanted to reach out and swipe the smudge off himself. “Ice cream on your face.”

“Oh! Shit,” Billy was wiping at his cheeks with the hem of his sleeve, managing only to smear the edge of the ice cream. “Did I get it?” he asked, looking to Teddy for advice.

He could feel his cheeks flushing rapidly, as Billy watched him questioningly. Teddy quickly turned his eyes away and pointed to his own nose. “No, it’s right on the tip there…” He could hear Billy fumbling with his sweater, finally clearing the sticky sweet mess off his face. But Teddy’s attention had been drawn across the park, to the children’s jungle gym. On top of one of the colorful metal climbing ranges sat a youth with stark white hair.

When he made eye contact with the pale-haired figure, Teddy was sure he saw him grin, and then he blinked.

He was gone.

Teddy stood up alarmingly fast, startling everyone else on the stone ledge in the process. Kate was the only one who seemed to keep her cool, but her eyes narrowed warningly at the blond. “I’m sorry, I really have to…” Teddy started.

“Seriously, Ted?” Kate complained, lowering her shades an inch so he could see the full force of her glare.

“Sorry Kate, guys,” he gave the group a quick nod before taking off in the direction he thought the runaway may have taken. He cut through groups of people chatting or posing for pictures, leapt as best he could over impromptu picnics, and crashed through a cluster of trees. By the time he stopped running, Teddy was out of breath, bent over and clutching at his knees. He had caught only a glimpse of white hair disappearing into this area, between thick tree trunks and low, malicious foliage--but there was nothing here.

“Shit…” he hissed, raking a hand through his sweaty hair, mussing it at all angles. “Why are you running, Thomas…?”


	2. Heart Skips a Beat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “An apology,” Teddy replied, working the touches of a flush off his own cheeks. “I haven’t exactly been great at socializing lately, and my last few attempts, well… I’d like to get to know you better. And I haven’t been off to a great start.”
> 
> He could see Billy’s complexion darken quickly, his emotions running circuits behind his eyes, which he averted in a hurry. Taking a slow sip of his latte, Billy glanced back at the blond before jutting out his hand. “Billy Kaplan, nice to meet you.”
> 
> Staring at the offered limb, Teddy let a soft smile fall onto his lips before grasping Billy’s palm. His hand was warm and soft, but Teddy tried not to dwell on that. “Teddy Altman. Let’s try to avoid any excellent adventures.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly, I would like to thank everyone so much for reading! It makes me very happy to know that you guys enjoy this fic, and it encourages me to stay on schedule. I always appreciate every comment, kudos, and view. Hopefully I continue to live up to your expectations, haha. This chapter is a bit of a beast compared to the first one, though I expect chapter two is more representative of the length that future chapters will be.
> 
> To Kuchen and Melerune, my two beta editors and die-hard fans, I love you guys! Kuchen, you have been there since the beginning of this monstrosity and are always helping to supply me with new ideas or help with the fiddly bits that are causing me agony. Melerune, you are not yet a fan of Young Avengers (we will soon fix this), but you are just as involved in this as though you were. (And you are constantly providing feedback while gently prodding me in the side to hurry up and write more words, faster.)
> 
> To clarify, in case it isn’t clear, personal thoughts are in italics. If you are downloading these chapters to your phone, the images may not show up properly, as a warning (so you may be missing information). Also, I will be doing some artwork for this fic (though my art is quite out of practice, please forgive me) and I was wondering if you guys would like to see it inserted into the fic itself, or simply hosted elsewhere? Please let me know.
> 
> Chapters will update on a regular basis, always the first weekend of every month. I have myself on a pretty strict writing schedule as part of my day-to-day, so the only time chapters will be late is if I’m ill or have other serious obligations.

 

**_“I’m trying hard not to resist the joy_ **

**_Don’t listen to me I’m being paranoid_ **

**_I might try hard but it’s too hard to avoid_ **

**_My heart skips a beat_ **

**_My heart skips a beat”_ **

_Heart Skips a Beat by Lenka_

 

After running through Central Park at full speed and abandoning the group outing mid-conversation to go racing after phantoms, Teddy felt as though he’d made a huge mistake. He was too embarrassed to go back to the fountain, especially after the way he had behaved, so he took the next train home instead. This should have given him plenty of time to reflect on his inability to sit and socialize like a normal human being while trying to remember what Billy had been saying before he’d taken off. Instead, all he could remember was the look in those brown eyes when Teddy jolted up to leave. Though Billy had appeared outwardly calm, his eyes betrayed him, with a tinge of irritation and anger and maybe even a little hurt thrown in.

Teddy had mulled over his mistakes late into the night, so it was no surprise when he woke up with a pounding headache and the pressure of sleep behind his eyes Sunday morning. Groggily, he watched the numbers on his alarm clock march on, the soft sound of Colbie Caillat drifting through the speaker. Part of him wanted to stay in bed and pretend that yesterday was a bad dream, but he knew there were bound to be at least a dozen things at the office that Rick had nonchalantly moved from his own desk to Teddy’s. Thus, he pulled himself into a sitting position and held his palms against his eyes, attempting to will away the dull pain.

When sheer willpower did nothing to ebb the throbbing in his skull, Teddy finally heaved himself off the edge of the mattress and towards the bathroom. He rifled through the medicine cabinet in the dark, not wanting to confront the irritating light of a thousand suns that would radiate from the single fluorescent tube above. Retrieving the appropriate bottle, he moved to the kitchen before pouring himself a glass of water and downing two of the bright blue pills.

Ah, the magic of science--putting medication in liquid form for faster-acting relief.

By the time Teddy finished getting ready, his headache stopped being a raging sunspot in the outer edges of his vision and had dulled to a subtle pulse behind his eyes. He paused at the hallway mirror on his way out the door, forcing his face to mold into a placid smile, even though he wasn’t particularly feeling it. Some days it was easier to avoid the questions than to be honest with his outward emotions.

When he arrived at his tiny office, Teddy found that his original suspicions were correct--there was a teetering stack of folders in the center of his chair demanding his attention. This was a common pattern with Rick, he would leave the files on his own desk with some sort of idea that he would eventually do them instead of shirking his responsibilities, but they always seemed to make their way to Teddy’s desk eventually. Sometimes that ‘eventually’ would be months later, when the cases were long-since closed and no one remembered anything about them anymore. It was then up to Teddy to write the ‘closing remarks’ for each file, which he assumed Rick had never bothered to do for any of his cases. Since these were rarely cases Teddy himself had worked on, he had to pour over each bit of information to ensure that the paperwork he filled out was as accurate as possible.

He tried not to think about how much easier his life would be if Rick did his own damn paperwork. As it stood, it was more likely Teddy would get a promotion to Chief of Police before that happened, so he buckled down to work.

~~~~~~ 

The business card was tacked to the edge of his cork board, tattered and worn on the edges as though he’d had it for years--but Billy had fidgeted with it so many different times he was forced to remove it from his wallet and put it out of harm’s way. After Teddy had taken off at the park, Billy thought about all the logical reactions he could have had: he could have been upset, or angry, or confused. Those would have been ideal reactions for a person leaving in a hurry, a person he really didn’t know.

But no, he couldn’t possibly have a _normal_ reaction like any other _normal_ person would.

Billy felt as though he had been ditched, like he was a teenager on a first date and the date in question had excused themselves to the washroom and never came back.

That would imply that they had been on a date, and he could hardly classify a group outing as a date with Teddy. Teddy, the man he had really only just met, who had kind of creeped on Billy at the coffee shop, and who was gorgeous with a capital GUH.

He spent a good five minutes berating his brain for that last abomination of a thought, but Billy had to at least admit to himself that he did find Teddy attractive. Though he was pretty sure the only people on the planet who wouldn’t find him attractive would have to be insane.

Or maybe he was insane.

Here he was, thinking over and over again about someone he barely knew, over-analyzing Teddy’s behavior to the point of extreme obsession if the damaged business card was any proof.

Billy pulled out his phone, typed a quick message and stared hard at it for approximately thirty seconds before tossing his phone across the bed. He had been trying to work up the courage to send a quick ‘hi,’ something to get his number in Teddy’s phone and maybe give them a chance to hang out together again. It had been so easy to talk to Teddy, the conversation seemed to flow no matter what dorky tangent Billy led them off on. Now, he couldn’t even find a way to send a simple text.

From the edge of the bed, his phone buzzed once before taking a tumble to the floor, where it piteously chimed out a guitar riff from _The Legend of Zelda_. Billy’s stomach did an odd flip before he remembered that Teddy didn’t have his number, so logically would not be calling him.

Flinging himself over the edge of the bed he let his arms dangle down, fishing his phone out from the folds of a dirty t-shirt. He didn’t recognize the number blinking at him on the screen, which had his heart doing a funny little skip all over again.

“Calm down… Probably just a telemarketer….”

With a quick breath to calm himself down, Billy slid the screen to answer and held the phone against his ear. “Hello?” His voice pitched from calm, to concerned, to irritated in the matter of a few minutes. By the time he had hung up the phone, Billy was tugging on his jacket and on his way out the door, a cloud of annoyance crackling through his mind.

It was supposed to be a lazy Sunday.

~~~~~~ 

About halfway through the second file, Teddy could feel his eyes starting to gloss over, the words blurring into unintelligible lines. It was definitely time to fuel his caffeine addiction before he started to fall asleep in his office.

He couldn’t justify heading out to get a proper coffee yet, the twenty minutes it took was too long for his first break of the morning, so Teddy settled for the vending machine in the hallway. The coffee it produced tasted as though it had been burnt three ways to Sunday and watered down twice as a balance, but it had the desired effect so he couldn’t complain.

Somewhere between the fourth and fifth files of the morning, Teddy felt his phone buzzing from his pocket. Assuming it was Kate, he ignored it, since she was probably just checking in to make sure he wasn’t at work on a Sunday (again). He didn’t feel like getting berated on half a cup of piss-poor coffee, so he kept working through until nearly ten before taking a real break.

The quickest way to a decent cup of java was out the front of the building and across the street. Kitty-corner to the precinct was a hole-in-the-wall cafe, that never seemed to be quite as busy as Teddy expected it would be. It probably didn’t help that there was a Dunkin’ Donuts on the opposite side of the station, where the majority of the officers went for their fix. But Teddy liked the atmosphere of the smaller cafe, and liked that he didn’t run into a mass amount of his officer co-workers there. Since he didn’t have to wear a “uniform” per-se to the office, it was much easier for him to slip out and grab a cup of coffee without public expectations.

While waiting in line, Teddy’s phone jumped again in his pocket, alerting him of yet another incoming message. He decided as he technically _wasn’t_ in the station right that second, he could reply to Kate without lying, only stretching the truth a little.

The most recent text was, as he expected, from Kate.

**KATE BISHOP:** _If you are at the office right now, I swear I'm going to come over there and drag you away._

_A weekend off won't kill you._

**TEDDY:** _No I am not at the office._

**KATE BISHOP:** _Are you going to the office?_

**TEDDY:** _...No?_

Teddy knew Kate was joking around for the most part, but he also knew she was genuinely concerned that he was going to work himself into the ground. He couldn’t help it, considering the only reason he had this position in the first place was due to the influence of friends and a bit of lying on his part. So he felt as though he needed to work twice as hard, to seem twice as eager in order to keep his position secure.

He had to keep his appearance at the office perfect, his record spotless, lest they find out that he was probably too young to be in training for a detective position and that his two-year degree was done in half the time (with a lot of help from Kate). So he understood where she was coming from when she tried to help him be more social, he’d buried his social life in post-secondary to focus on his career, and now that same career was impeding any hope of any outward socialization.

**KATE BISHOP:** _Damn it, T. Seriously, you need to get a life outside of work!_

_I was trying so hard yesterday to help you MAKE SOME FRIENDS._ _  
_

**TEDDY:** _Aw, that hurts. You're my friend, aren't you?_ _  
_

**KATE BISHOP:**   _Your only friend. And sometimes I wonder if I'm enabling you._

_The next meet-up, you are coming, no questions._ _  
_

**TEDDY:**   _Yes'm._ _  
_

 **KATE BISHOP:**   _And don't stay there until midnight again, okay?_

_I'll kick your ass tomorrow if you do._

Chuckling, Teddy popped out of their exchange to look at the other text he had received. It was from a number he didn’t recognize, and he stopped moving forward in line to make sure that he’d read it properly.

**917-843-5489:** _So you're Flash Gordon as well as Johnny Blaze?_

_Pretty impressive, Mr. Altman. But I know your secret identity now._

_Your move._

Teddy was staring for so long at his tiny phone screen that the girl behind the counter had to holler at him to get his attention. Flushing and jamming the phone inside his coat pocket, he managed to get his expression under control just before he approached the counter and made his order. As soon as he was outside, Teddy pulled his phone out again and let his fingers hover over the touch keyboard. He had no idea how to reply, or who the message was really from, so he tucked the cell away again without responding. For once, he managed to keep himself from tripping on the curb and navigated his way back inside the precinct without incident.

It was at that point he saw the gangly young man, slumped on one of the waiting area benches, his dark hair at oddly-peaked angles. His eyes were locked on the phone screen in front of him, and Teddy was pretty sure he was browsing a thread on Reddit. Teddy tried desperately to keep his unrealistic hopes under control and his coffee from spilling down the front of his shirt (which he assumed would happen any moment, since his hands were threatening to shake) as he walked over.

“Hey.” _Smooth, real smooth._

~~~~~~ 

Some idiot really thought that She-Hulk could be defeated by Hawkeye in a battle, and Billy tried hard not to groan at the base logistics of their argument. Tech would never be able to completely overpower brute strength, at least in terms of the arrow technology that was currently available to Hawkeye. His fingers were furiously typing a reply when he heard a quiet cough, like someone clearing their throat, followed by an even quieter ‘hey.’ Whoever it was, they sounded sheepish, so Billy was pretty sure it wasn’t who he was waiting for. He glanced up from his phone and swallowed a mouthful of nerves.

Definitely not who he was waiting for.

He was pretty sure his mouth was gaping, and Billy could feel the heat of a flush running through his cheeks. He tried not to trip over his tongue in his hurry to speak.

“Oh, hey. I guess you work at this precinct, huh?”

_No shit, Sherlock._

Teddy didn’t seem to notice that Billy was struggling to form a proper sentence, let alone a coherent one, and he lifted a hand to twist through the golden wisps at the back of his head.

“Yeah, uh… I want to apologize for taking off yesterday. Don’t suppose you’d forgive me if I said that I suddenly saw Ming the Merciless and had to dash?”

There was an apologetic smile pulling at the corner’s of Teddy’s mouth, but Billy pulled his mind away from the finer points of Teddy’s lips in order to process what had just been said.

“Ming the… Oh god.” Billy’s features paled and he lifted up his phone again, quickly flipping through to his messages. Somehow, through his hurrying out the door to get to the police station, he sent the message he meant to erase. Billy groaned and buried his head in his hands, which by now he was _positive_ showcased at least a dozen shades of pink.

“That message really wasn’t supposed to go to you…”

“Oh? So you actually know Johnny Blaze and Flash Gordon? Can I get an autograph?”

Billy knew he was being teased and he tried to put on his best attempt at a glare (which would have been easy if this were Eli or Cassie), but when he saw the easy grin on Teddy’s face, the way his eyes were lit up with barely-contained laughter…

Yeah, he was pretty screwed in his attempt to look even remotely menacing.

~~~~~~ 

Teddy could see the flush spread all the way to the tips of Billy’s ears, even if the young man was doing his utmost to bury his expression between thin fingers. Teddy could almost feel the heat on his own cheeks, but he quickly pushed those emotions aside and smiled gently instead. Suddenly, Billy was looking up at him, through his fingers with his dark eyes narrowed slightly (though there wasn’t an ounce of menace behind them). Teddy had to do everything in his power to keep himself from laughing, their eyes locked together for what felt like too long.

He was about to look away, but was spared the embarrassment by a shout from behind the counter. “Oi, Altman! You wanna come process this kid for me? I gotta take a leak before I explode!”

“Yeah, sure,” Teddy replied, rolling his eyes and giving Billy another quick smile before ducking behind the glass divider. He stared at the name on the manilla envelope for a few moments longer than necessary, while his brain processed the information. When he looked up again, his assumption was correct.

“Oh, hey Eli.” Teddy was putting on his best stern air, since he knew he was supposed to give Eli a lecture about his behavior, but at the moment he didn’t even know the reason why the dour-looking young man was in here. He slid the thick envelope containing Eli’s belongings through the gap at the bottom of the window, raising a brow. “Had a bit too much fun last night?”

Eli shot narrowed eyes in Teddy’s direction (that was much more effective than Billy’s attempt to look threatening) and sullenly collected his things. A plain leather wallet, a set of keys (no keychains), a knock-off watch, and a packet of gum. He stuffed everything but the watch in his pockets, snapping the timepiece in place around his wrist.

“He got in a bar fight,” Billy supplied the answer, leaning on the counter and watching Teddy through the glass. His breath ghosted against the clear surface, and Teddy tried not to think about how close Billy’s face would be if that glass wasn’t separating them.

“Billy,” Eli warned, his glaring daggers now directed at his friend.

Billy waved off the edge in Eli’s voice, but didn’t say any more on the subject. Teddy’s co-worker returned and the blond shuffled out of the small room to walk the pair to the station doors. Part of him wanted to go with them, but he knew he needed to get through at least a few more files today.

“Don’t worry officer, I’ll make sure he gets home safe,” Billy turned to Teddy once Eli had slipped through the large double-doors. His eyes flicked away quickly, and Teddy watched him fidget from foot to foot on well-worn All Stars. “So uh…”

“Did you want to catch a movie or something, at some point? In the kind of soon future?” Teddy interjected, stumbling through the words and trying to decipher what exactly he had asked.

The startled look in Billy’s eye and the pink hue that blossomed across pale cheeks made Teddy grin. “Oh, uh, yeah! Sure, I mean… You have my number now so, let me know when you’re free?”

Billy was backing out the door as he was speaking, nearly tripping over his own feet as much as he was tripping over his sentences.

Offering him a nod and a slight wave, Teddy couldn’t keep the grin off his mouth. “Yeah. I’ll text you.”

“Cool.”

“Cool.”

~~~~~~ 

“Cool?” Eli snorted, brows raised and sinewy arms folded across his chest.

“I was definitely **not** cool,” Billy wailed once they were out of earshot of the station. He glanced sidelong at Eli, who was still attempting to suppress a smirk (and failing miserably).

“No, you were completely cool. As far as bumbling comic book nerds go.”

“I’ll have you know, comics are totally in right now. So that brings my coolness factor up to at least a solid seven.”

They walked in silence for a while, before Billy finally broached the subject he knew the other was adamantly avoiding. “So… what happened?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Was it about your grandfather?”

“Billy, seriously. Drop it,” Eli growled, the warning clear in his throat.

Billy had never been all that great at censoring himself.

“Are you using again?”

“Billy!” Eli roared, stopping in the middle of the street and turning sharply with narrowed eyes. “When I say I don’t want to talk about it, it means that **I don’t want to talk about it**.”

Billy shrunk visibly, lowering his eyes to the pavement where he nudged a few loose chips of concrete into the seams between sidewalk panels. “Sorry, I just… worry,” he whispered, the last word barely audible over the sounds of car horns and traffic signals.

Sighing, Eli pressed a hand against his temple, trying to will his irritation away. “Look, Billy… drop it for now, okay? I don’t want to get into it.”

Nodding, Billy jammed his hands into his hoodie pockets and focused his eyes on the path his beat-up runners took over the concrete. They continued the walk to Eli’s building in silence, since Billy knew by now that if Eli was mad enough to yell, he needed a certain amount of silence afterwards as a ‘cool-down’ period.

They had been friends since first year, when Cassie’s tenacious personality had somehow drawn them both into an odd mish-mash of a friendship. Normally, Billy would have avoided someone like Eli, who seemed too serious, too prone to outbursts--but Cassie didn’t see that in him. She saw the young man who volunteered at the library, who was working hard towards making a difference for people who didn’t have anything to their name, who went home to his grandparents’ place every weekend. Billy didn’t see that in him, not at first, and he was glad he’d met Cassie that same year or their odd trio would never have come together. Now it seemed like they’d been friends for ages, even with all the disputes and fights, and even though they’d only known each other a few years.

“This is me,” Eli broke the silence when they reached his building, Billy had been too lost in his own thoughts to even notice and he almost walked right past it. “Look, thanks for… coming to sign for me. I didn’t want to call Gran and get her worried.”

“It’s fine, you know I’ll come bust your sorry ass out of jail any time. You could have called me last night,” Billy replied, with lips quirked in a lopsided slant while he tried to find sure footing in the tenuous conversation.

Eli was already on his way to the front door of his apartment complex by this point, leaving Billy lingering at the bottom of the stairs. “I didn’t want… I needed some time to sort myself out.”

He ended the conversation by slipping inside the building before Billy could answer. Hearing the click of the automatic lock, he watched Eli’s broad back retreat up a few flights of stairs before disappearing altogether. Billy had hoped that Eli would eventually open up to either Cassie or himself, to try and deal with some of the things he felt the need to shoulder alone, but Eli wasn’t exactly the type to share emotions or problems and this frustrated Billy more than he liked to admit.

Heaving a ragged sigh, he pulled out his phone to check the time and saw that it was open to the last message he sent. A wave of embarrassment rolled over in his stomach, and he was about to issue a formal apology when his phone vibrated in his hand. Billy beamed at the screen and shot off a quick reply before heading towards the nearest train station.

**BILLY:** _So you're Flash Gordon as well as Johnny Blaze?_

_Pretty impressive, Mr. Altman. But I know your secret identity now._

_Your move._

**HOT COFFEE STALKER:**   _Did you get Eli home safe?_

_And are you doing anything this afternoon?_

_I mean, I'm free this afternoon._

_If you are._

**BILLY:** _Meet you at MoMA in thirty minutes, Mr. Gordon._

~~~~~~ 

Teddy was standing outside the glass-encased facade of the Museum of Modern Art, feeling awkwardly out of place holding two coffees and watching both ends of the approaching foot traffic. He managed to make it in record time, catching a lift with one of the officers who had ended his shift and was travelling up town in order to get home. Fifteen minutes wouldn’t normally have seemed like a lot of time to him, considering how long he had sat and waited on stakeouts in the past, but his heart wasn’t thundering out a nervous beat beneath his ribcage during those.

He kept checking his phone, as best he could while juggling the two quickly-cooling lattes, watching the time go by. When twenty minutes had passed and he still hadn’t seen a glimpse of the young man with the unruly dark hair, he was beginning to think that this had been a bad idea. Maybe he jumped the gun, or read too much into Billy’s prompt and snarky responses to nerdy cues. Maybe he came off as more of a jerk than he’d intended, with his work-centred and distracted attitude as of late. Maybe Billy just wasn’t…

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry, I missed my train!”

Billy had stopped a few feet away, clutching at his knees and doing his best to catch his breath (though at the moment he was only wheezing in gulps of air). When he finally straightened himself out, he was still breathing hard, his cheeks flushed a brilliant shade of red and his hair more wildly disheveled than normal.

Teddy was almost too distracted to remember he was holding something, barely saving himself from dumping coffee all over the both of them. Instead, he reached his hand out, offering one to Billy. He raised a dark brow before accepting the cup.

“What’s this, a peace offering?”

“An apology,” Teddy replied, working the touches of a flush off his own cheeks. “I haven’t exactly been great at socializing lately, and my last few attempts, well… I’d like to get to know you better. And I haven’t been off to a great start.”

He could see Billy’s complexion darken quickly, his emotions running circuits behind his eyes, which he averted in a hurry. Taking a slow sip of his latte, Billy glanced back at the blond before jutting out his hand. “Billy Kaplan, nice to meet you.”

Staring at the offered limb, Teddy let a soft smile fall onto his lips before grasping Billy’s palm. His hand was warm and soft, but Teddy tried not to dwell on that. “Teddy Altman. Let’s try to avoid any excellent adventures.”

Billy beamed at the reference, the lop-sided grin causing a twinge in Teddy’s chest as his heart tried to find its rhythm again. He cleared his throat and took a sip of his own latte, mainly to steady his thoughts before speaking again.

“Alright, ready to view some artistic marvels?”

Billy chuckled, pushing the glass doors forward and holding it open for Teddy with his foot (which, Teddy noted, still had the same pair of ratty sneakers he’d worn at the park). “You are in for a treat, my friend. There’s an awesome exhibit going on right now, and I’m somewhat of an expert on the matter.”

“Oh? Do go on,” Teddy teased, shaking his head when Billy made a beeline for the ticket booth. “Hey, hold up.” He fished around in his jacket (another ‘loan’ from Kate), and pulled out a pair of tickets. “I got here early, and since this is an apology and all I wouldn’t want you paying for your own ticket.”

“Oh, uh… thanks!” Billy replied quickly, his cheeks flushing all over again. Part of Teddy was envious of how easily Billy seemed to express emotions, whether he was aware of their frantic flicker over his face or not. Teddy was always in control of what was displayed for the world to see, too concerned about what someone might find there, what someone might not like.

He dragged himself out of his thoughts, motioning to the long hallways with a nod of his head. “Lead the way, oh wise expert.”

They moved through the winding halls, keeping close enough so Teddy could hear Billy whispering excitedly about exhibits that they passed. Despite living in New York for the entirety of his life, Teddy had only been to the Museum of Modern Art a handful of times, all of which had been on school outings. But the young man beside him seemed to know his way around the twisting maze of white-walled hallways, as though he’d been there a million times before. Billy led them deftly to the featured exhibit, stopping just before they went inside so he could turn to Teddy with a million-watt grin. He looked like a kid right before they let you in on (what they thought) was an amazing secret.

“Welcome to ‘Friend or Foe,’ the exhibit of heroes turned villain and vice versa. Or in some cases, back and forth a million times until we’re all confused about what side they’re fighting for.”

Teddy let a warm expression slide into place, glancing up at the banner hanging over the entrance to the exhibit. He had no idea that the themed exhibit was to be one about superheroes (or supervillains in some cases), and Teddy was glad to see how excited Billy was about it. Billy had been striking a pose in front of the exhibit, but Teddy got too wrapped up in his own thoughts to do much more than offer a gentle laugh.

“Okay, let’s go test your expert knowledge,” he nudged Billy with his shoulder as he walked by and into the exhibition hall. It was an enormous room, walls lined with paintings and all sorts of art pieces, abstract displays of costumes and fight scenes in the centre of the room, and a large diorama of some sort hanging from the ceiling. Teddy had to take moment to gauge the size of it all, striving to figure out the best plan of action, but Billy had snagged the cuff of his jacket and was dragging him away to the back of the hall.

“If we start back here and make our way around, we should be able to see everything in about three circuits,” the dark-haired youth spoke softly, trying not to disturb other patrons but also attempting to speak above the quiet din of other voices.

Teddy was struggling to not focus on how close Billy’s hand came to brushing his own every few steps. He could feel his face heating up and quickly did his best to pressure the temperature in his cheeks back to normal, turning his attention to the exhibits instead of Billy’s hand, which stayed on his sleeve for a moment too long after they reached the huge painting at the back of the hall.

Blue eyes met the cold grey pools beneath a steel helmet as Teddy found himself looking up at a giant portrait of Magneto, and he could almost feel the shudder running through his spine. Though he knew that Eric Lehnsherr (the name he was currently favoring) was considered to be in the neutral zone as far as his present alliance was concerned, that dark look still made Teddy feel uneasy.

“Magneto, real name Max Eisenhardt, currently going by the alias Eric Magnus Lehnsherr. He was the head of the Brotherhood for a long time before disbanding the group, headed Xavier’s school for gifted youngsters, and then waffled back and forth about how good or evil he really wanted to be. Right now, no one really knows where he stands, so he makes a good start for our tour.” Billy had been rattling off facts while looking at the intimidating painting before them, and Teddy couldn’t help but be a little impressed.

“And what side do you think he’s on?” Teddy asked, pulling his eyes away from Billy just as the other turned to him.

“Well, I’m not exactly at liberty to discuss…” Billy whispered, glancing around as though he were making sure no one was listening in. “But I’m pretty sure he’s laying low before he causes another shitstorm.”

Teddy snickered, rapping his knuckles gently against dark hair. “Oh ye of little faith.”

“You think he’s actually turned over a new leaf?” Billy watched the blond like he was crazy, and Teddy found himself laughing harder.

“I’m not at liberty to discuss,” he answered simply, moving to the next piece in the exhibit. They moved around in this fashion for an hour, doing a circle of the outside wall, then focusing on the larger pieces in the middle before weaving through it all a third time in case they missed anything. Billy was spouting off more facts and knowledge than even Teddy knew of, and Billy didn’t seem to mind that his companion was mostly silent. Teddy chimed in when he had an interesting tidbit to add, but Billy had been right--he really was an expert on all of this stuff.

On their last circuit through the exhibition, something caught Teddy’s eye. On either side of the huge Magneto portrait were similar (but smaller) portraits of both Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. Currently, all three had their whereabouts listed as unknown but it was assumed that Pietro was searching for his twin after Wanda disappeared. It had been close to a decade since she nearly obliterated the entire state, and most people assumed or hoped she wasn’t going to show up again any time soon. He was standing in front of Wanda’s portrait, pouring over her backstory while Billy reiterated it, when he swore there was movement in the corner of his eye. Teddy turned to look, but there was nothing there, and there couldn’t be--it would have been behind the protective ropes around the paintings. Regardless, he moved back towards that area and saw it, wedged into the edge of Pietro’s portrait, a tiny slip of white paper. They had already come around this route before, and he knew that hadn’t been there the first time.

Glancing around in a hurry, he saw that Billy was engrossed with the somewhat inaccurate facts on the explanation plate in front of an abstract splash (that was supposed to represent Spider Man, somehow) and no one else was anywhere near this section of the exhibit. As quietly and cautiously as he could, he reached out and brushed his fingers against the edge of the paper, willing his arm to be just a little longer so he could…

“Teddy?”

He felt his shoulder jump a bit, and Teddy brought his hands back to his sides, jamming the slip of paper into his pocket as he did so. “Sorry, thought I saw something on the frame. It looked like an ink splotch, so I tried to touch it and see what it was. It was probably a shadow, though.”

Billy looked skeptical, even though Teddy was trying to pull his best innocent smile into place. His fingers pressed against the folds of paper in his pocket, using every ounce of willpower to keep playing it cool. He’d done cool before, faked being cool as a cucumber even though inside he had been screaming, but faking around Billy felt wrong. Teddy wanted to tell him the truth, about all the twists and turns of this case, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Something about the whole thing seemed strange and important, like it was bigger than himself, bigger than just finding Thomas. And maybe that tiny scrap of paper would give him a direction to follow.

~~~~~~

Billy looked from the painting to the ropes around it and back to Teddy’s arm, which seemed to have returned to its normal length and was resting in his coat pocket. Maybe he’d been seeing things, or it was a trick of the light, or Teddy had  _really_ long arms naturally and Billy hadn’t noticed until right that second, but Billy swore that the distance between the velvet-covered ropes and the frame of the painting was too far for someone to simply reach across. He shook himself from that train of thought, striving to focus on saying actual words instead of only thinking them.

“Well okay. I was saying that we’ve probably seen everything in here and I’ve talked your ear off enough for one day, unless you wanted to see more of the exhibit. Or maybe you wanted to grab a bite or something?” Billy offered, knowing he was babbling and probably grinning like an idiot to boot, but he didn’t want the outing to end yet. He felt like they were starting to click, Cassie would have probably said something about how there were ‘sparks’ and all that nonsense, but Billy was just happy to have someone he could speak nerd with.

“Could we… maybe take a rain check on that?” Teddy countered, and Billy could feel his smile faltering. “I’m really sorry, but I actually need to get back to work…”

“Oh, yeah! Sorry, I totally forgot that I dragged you away from work for this! I didn’t throw off your whole week, did I?” Billy was trying to be calm and apologetic, even though he could feel his stomach doing a strange flutter and his mind was racing through everything he had said during the last few hours to pinpoint exactly where he went wrong. Then again, maybe it was that Teddy really did have to return to work.

“No, it’s okay. Just a never-ending pile of paperwork to go through. Shoot me a text or something when you’re free though? This week, maybe?”

“Yeah, I’ll make sure to let you know,” Billy answered, still forcing a somewhat-smile as they walked side-by-side to the museum exit. He was attempting to not let his mood deflate too much, even though a part of him felt like he’d done something wrong and been rejected for it. Maybe he talked too much? “I don’t have too much for homework coming up, so I’ll probably be free most evenings and stuff. Oh, and I don’t have classes on Wednesdays.”

He was babbling again--yeah, he probably talked too much.

But Teddy was smiling at him, that warm look that made Billy feel a little skip in his chest, and he swallowed whatever he was going to say next.

“Okay, I’ll make sure to let you know when I’m free as soon as I figure out my schedule for the week,” Teddy replied, glancing for a moment at his watch. “See you soon, Ming the Merciless.”

Billy laughed and waved as Teddy left, watching the other wave back and disappear through the crowded streets. He stood for a moment outside the museum, his feet rooted to the spot. Part of him felt a pang of disappointment, but he shook that off in favor of checking a nearby comic shop for the back issues he had been looking for.

_There’s no reason to be disappointed, it’s not like it was a date…_

~~~~~~

“It was definitely a date.” Kate’s voice was chiding through the echo of the phone, and Teddy frowned while he kicked off his shoes. It had taken him longer to get home than he would have liked, and he didn’t want to look over the paper while outside in case it decided to take off with the wind. On his way into his building, Kate called his cell and Teddy had picked up without thinking.

“Kate, it wasn’t a date. I was making up for yesterday,” he replied, holding the phone to his ear with his shoulder while he wriggled out of his jacket and hung it up. He carefully pulled the note from his pocket, heading to the dining room table or his ‘base of operations.’ Moving some of the files aside, he sat down and started unfolding the edges. It was twisted together in that way middle schoolers folded notes, each corner neatly slipping into the next until it made an impossible mess to get it open.

Kate huffed in his ear, and he could practically hear it echo off the high roof of her condo. “You didn’t take the rest of us out to make up for it, and you definitely ditched more than one person at the park.”

She had a point, as she almost always did, and Teddy silently cursed her for it. “Okay, well yeah. I just thought Billy looked kind of upset when I took off in the park so… Plus, he doesn’t think it was a date. We hung out and talked superheroes and stuff.” He was slowly pulling at the twists and folds, careful not to cause a tear along the creases.

“So it was a nerd date, big difference. What if Billy thought it was a date?”

“No, he definitely didn’t-” Teddy thought back to the offer of a ‘quick bite,’ which plausibly meant dinner after their museum visit, which sounded an awful lot like… “-probably didn’t think it was a date.”

“Uh huh. So how did you end it? You guys make plans for another ‘date-but definitely not-date?”

Teddy could hear the stretch of a bowstring behind her questions, and he could see an image of her clearly, holding the phone with her shoulder while she re-strung the large weapon. She was probably sprawled in the center of her living room, getting ready to go to practice. “I uh… Well, I kind of left in a hurry for work stuff and…”

“Ted!” Kate snapped on the other end of the line, and Teddy was sure she was going to come straight over and shoot _him_ with that bow. “Are you insane?! You ditched him twice!”

“No, no! We finished at the exhibit and I had a lot of work to do so we said we’d make plans to do something again soon.” He could tell even as he said it, Kate was too busy fuming to listen to him properly. Okay, maybe he had rushed home a little too quickly, but he was sure that the note was something important! Plus, Billy had seemed to understand his need to leave, didn’t he?

“Look, you are going to call him and set up another date-”

“It wasn’t a date.”

“Whatever! Another totally-not-date right away! I have a hard enough time getting you out once in a while, but trying to get you some new friends? Ugh! It’s like pulling nose hairs!”

“You pull your nose hairs?” Teddy couldn’t help but grin, and he did his best not to laugh. He was down to the last few folds in the strip of paper, and he could almost see what was written inside of it.

“You’re getting off topic. Seriously, you better call him right away or-”

“Kate, I’m sorry. I’m gonna have to call you back,” Teddy murmured, one easy fold away from opening the paper before him.

“Ted don’t you da--”

Teddy knew he was going to pay for hanging up, Kate was already calling him back but he put his phone on silent and turned his attention to the page in front of him. She could yell at him tomorrow, but for now…

With careful hands, he opened the paper and immediately frowned. There was a crude drawing, and what looked to be a poem. At first he thought it was only a child’s homework, but then he saw that one of the figures looked an awful lot like him in a noir-style detective outfit. Teddy’s brows mashed together on his forehead as he read and re-read the information in front of him.

_Run, rabbit, run_

_Chasing what you may_

_In thousands of directions_

_For a thousand days._

_If you catch the rabbit,_

_Things will not end there,_

_Something dark will find you,_

_And the wayward hare._  

Teddy felt the edge of a shudder run down his spine, and he shook his head before reading through the note yet again. He wasn’t sure if the tone was a warning or a threat, maybe a little bit of both. All he did know was that his stomach felt like it was being twisted and lurched into a nervous, tangled mess.

~~~~~~

He woke to the sun in his eyes, pouring in through the open blinds in his living room. Teddy sat upright and pressed his palms hard against his face, trying to force his mind to wake. He must have stayed up late and fallen asleep at the dining room table, which wasn’t unusual, but he wasn’t any further to figuring out the note than he had been yesterday afternoon.

Groaning, Teddy stretched his arms above his head, gaze flicking to the clock on the wall. He felt his whole body tense when he saw the time.

“Shit.”

He rushed through a shower and threw on a new set of clothes before darting out the door and towards the station. Thankfully, he didn’t live far and didn’t have to rely on transit to get him there, so he was only twenty minutes late when he skidded into his office. Kate was already sitting at the desk, going through the files he’d abandoned on his desk the previous day. She arched a brow at him while he doubled over and tried to catch his breath.

“Late night?”

Teddy nodded, grateful that she was letting him compose himself before she expected him to reply. The second he straightened up, he could see she her eyes were narrowed dangerously and knew he was about to get a scolding for hanging up on her yesterday.

“Did you talk to Billy?”

“Huh?” Teddy was only half listening as he hung up his coat and tried to put his brain back together after his mad dash to work. “Uh, no. Not yet.”

“You’re calling him to arrange another ‘hang-out’ session. Right now. And get him an apology gift or something. Oh, and go get me a damn coffee while you’re at it.” She stopped berating him to turn her attention back to the stack of folders, and Teddy couldn’t help but smile a little. He knew she wasn’t actually upset, more that she was looking out for his best interests. After all, she’d probably gotten here pretty early to help him go through the closing reports if the three new files in the ‘completed’ stack were any indication.

“Okay, okay. I’ll be back in about fifteen,” he offered, pulling his jacket on again and reaching for his cell. He hadn’t told Kate about the note he’d found, because as of yet, he wasn’t entirely sure it meant anything. There wasn’t an accurate way to compare the handwriting, since the note looked like it had been scribbled with cheap diner crayons, and he didn’t think it was worth the time and money of the police department to try and determine where the paper had come from and so on. Most of the time, the information that was returned wound up being inaccurate or useless anyway.

When Teddy looked at the series of missed calls on his phone, most of which were Kate, he was surprised to see Billy’s name pop up more than once. He quickly checked his voicemail, but each of those messages had been from Kate, and he assumed his voicemail was now full. Deleting everything in his mailbox, he dialed Billy’s number and hoped that he wasn’t too upset with him. He was about to concede defeat and hang up the line when he heard a click and an unfamiliar ‘hello.’

“Uh, hi. I’m calling for Billy?” Teddy wondered if he had gotten a friend or family member instead, maybe Billy was away from his phone or…

“Ah, yes. Well, Mr. Kaplan is in class at the moment and I’m afraid he forgot to shut off his cellular phone prior to the beginning of the lesson. So, unfortunately, you will have to call him back. Unless this is a matter of utmost urgency.”

Teddy could hear the wave of giggles from the class that was no doubt surrounding Billy, who he imagined was a deep shade of crimson at this point. He could feel his own cheeks heat up as he quickly apologized. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to interrupt your class. Please don’t take it out on him because of it, I should have known better.”

“Very well. Goodbye now.”

Hearing the dial tone echoing in his ear, Teddy groaned a bit and twisted a hand through his hair. Well, that didn’t exactly go over well as the beginning to an apology.

~~~~~~

Billy had his head down on the desk, pretty sure that at any moment he was going to singe a hole through the wood based on the amount of heat that was radiating through his cheeks. Normally he was really good about remembering to shut off his phone, but he supposed his subconscious had been hoping that Teddy would call. He just hadn’t expected Teddy to call in the middle of class (Jonas’s, no less), and Teddy managed to choose the day Billy had changed the ringtone from a generic built-in ditty to  _The Bridge of Khazad Dum_ to call, so the soundtrack of his demise couldn’t have been more epic. He’d received his phone back, turned off, from Jonas himself. Not that it mattered, he was pretty sure he was too embarrassed to ever speak with Teddy again. Billy spent the remainder of class with his gaze trained to his notebook, not looking to his classmates that were probably still snickering about him.

He felt Cassie’s hand on his shoulder as class was dismissed. “Hey, you okay? You should probably call him back…”

Billy frowned at her and shouldered his backpack, after jamming all his books inside in a haphazard mess. “Yeah right! How can I after that… disaster.” He was sulking and knew it, but Eli wasn’t around today to call him out on it so he could pout if he damn well pleased.

“It could have been worse,” she offered, striving to smile brightly even though Billy was glaring daggers at her. “Oh, come on. He called you, right? Isn’t that kind of what you’ve been waiting for?”

“Yeah…” Billy whispered, booting his phone back up and slumping into a bench along one of the hallways bordering the lecture rooms. He shuffled off his backpack and stared at the glowing apple while he waited for the device to come back online. “But what if he’s calling to say I’m super weird and we didn’t hit it off at all and we shouldn’t see each other anymore?”

Cassie grinned at him as she sat down, making a bold attempt at not chuckling. “I thought you said it wasn’t a _date_ -date?”

“I-it wasn’t!” he stuttered back, cheeks pink as he focused on his loading text messages. It seemed to be taking a lot longer than usual, there were two from Eli about classwork, one from his mother asking when he was coming home next, and several from…

“Ooo, ‘Hot Coffee Stalker’ seems to be super into someone he didn’t hit it off with,” Cassie teased, twisting a strand of blonde hair deftly behind her ear.

“Shush,” Billy grumbled at her, feeling his face heat up all over again. He twisted his phone away so Cassie wasn’t able to see the screen before going through the messages.

 **HOT COFFEE STALKER:**   _I'm really sorry about that, didn't mean to catch you in class._

_Just wanted to be sure you're still free Wednesday?_

_I have two tickets to the aquarium out at Coney with your name on them._

_If you wanted, I mean._

_Let me know._

Billy quickly typed out a response and shoved his phone back into his pocket, feeling the corners of his mouth pull into a grin that he didn’t bother trying to stop.

“So?” Cassie asked, brows raised. “It’s a date?”

He could feel the smile on his features reaching levels of way-too-big, but Billy let out a short laugh at the thought of how stupid he must look.

“Yeah, it’s a date.”

Cassie screeched a little, and Billy was fairly certain she had set off at least a few dogs and maybe some car alarms with the pitch. He could see Jonas peer out of his classroom with an unhappy stare right before he shut the door. All of it seemed like a hazy blur as Billy rolled the words over in his mind.

_It’s a date._

~~~~~~

After causing such a scene in Billy’s class, Teddy was surprised to hear back from him at all, let alone a positive answer. He picked up a ridiculously nerdy apology card from the corner store, being sure to tuck it away inside a newspaper so Kate didn’t harass him about it. She might not find it funny, but Teddy was starting to sense a similarity in Billy’s humor and his own, and he found the card hilarious.

He shuffled his way back into the tiny office while struggling to balance two coffees, the newspaper hiding his card, and a small bag with two pastries from down the street. Kate would vehemently deny it, but there was a phyllo pastry layered with dark chocolate and raspberries that she couldn’t say no to. Teddy held the bag and one of the coffees out to Kate, who was still sifting through the files on his desk, and smiled as sheepishly as he could manage. “Peace offering?”

Kate raised a brow and took the coffee, sipping delicately so she didn’t burn her tongue, before peering into the paper bag. “Ted…” she muttered in warning, but he raised both hands in the air, palms facing out.

“Nope, sorry. I won’t accept that you’ve forgiven me until you eat it. I’ll save you from the boston cream tart though,” he replied, grinning as he sat in one of the chairs across from her and snagged a few files from the stack.

She sighed and shook her head, removing her pastry before passing the bag over the desk.  “Okay, so you talked to Billy then?”

Teddy nodded, too preoccupied with his ‘breakfast’ to properly answer. He swallowed the last bite and cleaned his fingers on a napkin before replying. “Yeah, sort of.”

He was taking a sip of his coffee and didn’t notice the daggers Kate was throwing from her eyes. “Sort of?”

“Yeah, well he was in class when I called, and he forgot to shut off his ringer I guess. His prof gave him shit, and me a little too by proxy, but I texted him right after to try and apologize. He’s not too mad I suppose, because we’re meeting at Coney Island on Wednesday,” he sifted through the top folder, scribbled a few quick notes into the required form and threw it in the ‘completed’ pile.

Kate heaved a sigh, and Teddy could see she was shaking her head from the other side of the desk, but he also saw the hint of a smirk pulling at the corners of her mouth. “Well, it wasn’t a complete loss then. You got yourself another date.”

“It’s not a date,” Teddy insisted quickly, and she was straight back to glaring at him.

“Seriously, Ted?”

“What? Can’t two guys just hang out without it being a date?”

“Yes, but how do you know that’s how Billy feels about it?”

“Because I-” Teddy stopped himself, attempting to piece together her question. He didn’t really know how Billy felt about their ‘dates,’ or if he considered them as such. The beginnings of a rosy blush started in his cheeks but he pushed it back. “Okay, I don’t know how he feels but I don’t think he sees it as anything else…”

“Uh huh…” Kate answered softly, taking a bite of her raspberry-chocolate treat. She took her time, making sure she didn’t have chocolate on her lips before she spoke up again. “And how do you feel about these outings?”

Teddy didn’t answer, mulling over the relatively complex questions Kate was throwing at him all of a sudden. He pretended to be focused on the folder before him in the hopes she would drop the subject, since he could feel his chest tighten and the flush on his face heat up the more he thought about it. How did he feel about hanging out with Billy again? He was excited, since the dark-haired young man seemed to have so much emotion and energy, things Teddy found himself frequently lacking or even forcing. It was refreshing to be around Billy, they didn’t have to work to find conversation topics and time seemed to flow by when they were together. But Teddy still wasn’t sure that he would classify it as a date, even though there seemed to be an odd skip in his heart whenever he saw the other. Or his features would burst into rosy hues the second he saw that lopsided grin that meant Billy was either about to gush about something super nerdy or he was trying to apologize for talking too much. Or the way his emotions seemed to fluctuate through pale features as quickly as the colors changed in an aurora borealis. Or…

“Ted!”

Kate had to shout to get his attention, and Teddy was startled to see her watching him questioningly from across the desk. He smiled as way of apology. “Sorry, what was that?”

“I was asking if you had any progress on that Shepherd case,” she replied, still peering at him with an arched brow. Kate had almost reached the halfway point in her pile of folders, and Teddy felt optimistic that they could probably get these off the desk by the end of the day.

“Oh, well… I’m not entirely sure yet.” Teddy proceeded to explain the trip to the museum, the note, and all the strangeness around it. He didn’t mention any of his current hunches, since they might be completely off, or the uneasy feeling he had in his gut.

Kate waited for him to finish his explanation before interjecting with a quick thought. “How could he have gotten that note into the frame in the first place? And for that matter, how did you get it off? I mean, I think they normally make sure people can’t reach out and touch the exhibits…”

Teddy shifted uncomfortably in his seat, glancing towards the partially-open office door and nudging it all the way closed with his foot. The hallway outside wasn’t frequented by a lot of foot traffic, but he didn’t want to chance someone overhearing while walking by.

“I may have… overextended my arm a little,” he mumbled, voice hushed and overly wary just in case someone was listening in.

Kate frowned, but her attention was fixated on Teddy as she spoke. “Did anyone see? Did Billy…?”

Teddy answered with a negative sway of his head, eyes going back to the papers scattered in front of him. “No, I was careful. But no one could have put that there without going past the barrier, and it wasn’t there on our first circuit around the exhibit.”

Across from him, Kate’s brows were knit together, creating a small crease between them that Teddy had affectionately referred to as her canyon of deep thought. Though she’d punched him hard in the arm the last time he had used the term aloud, so now he kept the comment to himself. “If the only way to get it over there would be to go behind the barrier, and no one saw anyone doing that… Maybe it was someone who has a mutation?”

“Like invisibility or something?” Teddy asked, looking skeptical.

Kate shook her head, a few wisps of dark hair escaping her updo. She was chewing on the edge of her thumbnail, analyzing her thoughts repeatedly until she was almost sure.

“No… More like super-speed.”

~~~~~~

The remainder of Monday and the entirety of Tuesday flew by in a blur once Kate turned their entire case on its head. Teddy tried to find a new angle, determine if maybe it really had been a kidnapping case while Kate worked her way through a database of known ‘speedsters.’ Neither of them had managed to come up with anything useful so far, but Teddy felt as though they were at least headed in the right direction.

When Wednesday rolled around, Teddy came into the office as per usual and settled at the large desk, going through the new files that had popped up overnight. Kate breezed in five minutes later, her expression awash with confusion when she saw the blond hunkered in the large wing-back chair. “Uh… don’t you have somewhere to be? With a certain someone?”

“It’s seven thirty in the morning. We’re not meeting until noon,” Teddy replied, his attention still on the page he was reading. “I’m just going to head out of here around eleven or so.”

Hanging up her coat and tucking her purse away into a cabinet, Kate glowered at him. “That doesn’t really give you a whole lot of time to change…”

Teddy could tell she was hinting at his choice in clothes, not-so-subtly either. He looked up with a frown of his own. “What? What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”

“Nothing’s _wrong_ per-se…”

He stared her down, waiting for the rest of the sentence to drop.

“It’s only that your shirt doesn’t really go with that scarf and I’m pretty sure you’re wearing the same loafers you always wear to the office and those are definitely not date material. And you’re probably wearing slacks! You were going to wear slacks on a date?”

Teddy raised a brow, trying hard not to laugh. “Are you done?”

“Yes! But you _are_ leaving early enough to change!” she insisted, pointing at him with as much composure as she could muster before she chuckled. “But seriously, is this a date?”

“You’re asking the wrong guy, Kate.”

Kate rolled her eyes and started picking up the files they’d finished with, preparing to take them downstairs so they could get tucked away and never be looked at again. “Well what do you want it to be?”

She was too busy rifling through a file and striving to determine if they’d done the closing notes on it or not to see the flush rapidly bloom across Teddy’s cheeks, and disappear just as quickly. He didn’t answer her, he knew she didn’t need him to, she was simply trying to get him thinking. And unfortunately, it worked.

~~~~~~ 

“Cassie, seriously, you’re not helping with my crisis here!” Billy wailed at his friend, who was currently sprawled on his dorm bed reading the latest issue of ‘Batman vs Superman.’

She looked up from the page she was on to grin at him. “You’re having a personal wardrobe crisis, it’s all good. It will probably pass as soon as you figure out it doesn’t matter which shirt you wear.”

Billy huffed at her, throwing another discarded choice towards the bed. “Are you kidding?! What if he really hates the Flash and I show up with that shirt? It would kill the atmosphere!”

“So it _is_ a date?” Cassie asked, raising her brow curiously, a grin pulling at her lips.

“Yes! Well, no… Maybe? I don’t know,” he complained, throwing another t-shirt to the wayside. He held up two side-by-side, turning to face her. “C’mon, subtle Avengers, or not-so-subtle Thor?”

Billy was holding two t-shirts, one an abstract splattered painting of the Avengers on a white background, the other a black and white image of Thor overtop of a layer of comic books on a charcoal tee. He watched Cassie for her reaction while she tried to come up with a response.

“Well… I don’t know. I guess if you’re going for subtly dorky you should probably go with the Avengers one?” she offered, shrugging her shoulders. Billy seemed happy with that answer as he was already tugging off his plain black tee and replacing it with the Avengers one. His hair stood on end from all the static it created, and he heard Cassie stifling a giggle.

“What?”

“Your hair…” she whispered, bursting into laughter and nearly tumbling off the edge of the bed in the process.

Sure enough, when Billy turned to the small mirror in his room, his hair was standing at attention all over the place. “Shit…” he hissed, looking at the clock and frowning. “Cassie can you stop laughing and come help me? I have to leave in five minutes and I don’t think I can get this under control by myself by then…”

He was frowning at her in the mirror as she twisted bits of gel and a comb through his unruly hair, her lips pressed together hard to keep herself from giggling. “There,” Cassie replied, smiling at her handiwork. “You almost look like a presentable human being.”

“I’ll have you know I always look presentable,” Billy shot a look in her general direction before pulling on a grey zip-up sweater with a baggy cowl neck and dark sleeves. He spent a good two minutes attempting to see himself in the tiny mirror before turning to Cassie. “Is this okay?”

She chuckled and beamed at him. “You’re gonna knock him dead. You look awesome.”

He felt his cheeks color a little before he grabbed his shoulder bag and headed for the door. “Okay, I’m leaving, so unless you want to hang out in my room all day…”

Cassie chuckled and rolled her eyes, snatching her purse and jacket before heading for the door. “Yeah, yeah. I just so happen to have better things to do today than hang out in your smelly room.”

“It’s not smelly!”

“Totally is.”

Billy shook his head as he locked up behind them. “You heading to the mansion again? Where did you tell your mom you were going this time?”

“Studying with Eli at the library,” she replied easily, digging around in her purse for her cell so she could shut it off. “He’s got it covered in case mom calls him or something.”

“Cassie, you should really tell her… It’s not like she can stop you.” They’d left the apartment, and the crispness of the autumn air created an immediate chill. Billy was thankful he opted to wear the sweater. “I mean, you live on your own now and everything.”

“Yeah, it’s just… hard. You know?”

Billy nodded, dropping the subject where it stood. He had his own secrets that he would rather keep to himself, rather bury away lest they ever see the light of day. Cassie understood keeping secrets as well as Billy, so they walked in relative silence to the subway station. He paused at the top of the steps, suddenly feeling awash with unease. Feeling Cassie’s hand on his shoulder, he glanced over to see her smiling at him reassuringly.

“You’ll be fine, Billy. Just breathe, and be yourself. If he doesn’t like you, I’ll make sure that Kate kicks his ass.”

He chuckled, resisting the urge to run back to his dorm room and hide away reading comics for the rest of the day. Instead, Billy pulled his friend into a quick hug and willed the butterflies in his chest to calm down. “Thanks. I’ll text you later to let you know how it went.”

“You bet your ass you will!” She replied, giving him another quick squeeze before running off to catch her own bus uptown.

Billy stood at the top of the steps, wavering on his decision all over again.

_Come on, Billy. It’s just a… maybe a date. You can handle a date._

He felt his cheeks flushing the more he thought about it, so he scrambled down to the subway platform before he could change his mind. Popping in his headphones, he turned on a random playlist to try and keep himself from over-thinking things. Cassie complained that he spent too much time thinking about doing things instead of actually doing them (since often by the time he was going to do them, he’d talked himself out of it).

The music he’d chosen was calming, and before Billy knew it he had all but drifted off while slumped in a dingy subway seat. He was jostled awake by a particularly noisy stop and only managed to fling his lanky body through the doors at the last second when he realized that this stop was his. Scrubbing his hands over his face, he kept his eyes peeled for the closest place to grab a coffee as he exited into the bright sun.

It was a gorgeous day, despite the nip in the air, and the sun splashed across the boardwalk and its few patrons. With the amusement park and several other attractions closed for the season, it wasn’t as unbearably crowded. Billy found an empty bench outside of the aquarium entrance and checked his watch. Somehow, he had managed to make it on time, despite all his indecision about his outfit. He watched a group of kids run past the metalwork arch encasing the path to the aquarium, sipping slowly at his coffee. Billy had popped into the first cafe he saw, and was pleased to get his caffeine fix in less than a minute. He had made sure to drop the rest of his change into the jar marked ‘tips’ before hurrying on his way. While his stomach didn’t feel like it was doing elaborate cartwheels anymore, as the minutes passed he wondered if he should be worried for an entirely different set of reasons.

_What if he forgot?_

_What if he’s not going to show?_

_What if he isn’t… into you in that kind of way…?_

Billy was too caught up in his own downward thought spiral to catch sight of the blond’s approach. A swift tap on the head with something small and light nearly made him jump out of his skin, and had his coffee not been nearly-empty, he would have splashed it halfway across the boardwalk. Glaring over his shoulder, he felt his anger rapidly deflate when he saw Teddy standing behind him, a slight grin quirking the corner of his mouth upwards.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” he offered sheepishly, apology etched into those crisp blue eyes.

Billy could feel the heat rising in his cheeks all over again so he quickly stood and tossed his coffee cup into the nearest trash can. “You really should think about putting those stealth skills to better use, before you use them for evil.” He was glad to see that Teddy understood his snarky jest, his smile growing.

“Right, sorry. I will no longer use my mad skills to interrupt your zone-out sessions,” Teddy teased right back, holding out a brightly colored envelope. Billy raised a brow and Teddy lifted a broad shoulder in a half-hearted shrug. “It’s an ‘I’m sorry for always taking off and being a general asshat’ card, or at least that’s what Kate told me.”

Chuckling, Billy took the envelope and pulled the card from inside. He raised a brow and let the grin expand on his lips. “Okay, you’re winning points with the picture of Thor and a great big ‘I’m Sorry’ on the front.”

 

He opened the card and couldn’t stop himself from bursting into a peal of half-hysterical laughter, well aware that Teddy was trying not to laugh himself, which only made Billy laugh harder. “That… that has to be both the best and worst pun I’ve ever read!” he wheezed between bouts of giggles.

“What? I really am sorry there’s a Thor spot between us,” Teddy added, which only succeeded in sending Billy into another set of hysterics.

~~~~~~ 

The abrupt shout of laughter sent a thrum through Teddy’s body, and he had to force himself not to shiver. When Billy laughed, really laughed, it was as though his lithe frame was twisting with the effort it took to keep himself on two feet. He was doubled over, still giggling when Teddy let himself chuckle, crouching down to peer at Billy’s flushed complexion.

“You still alive? I’m pretty sure Kate will murder me if I killed you with a punny card,” he asked, letting the beginnings of a grin show when he saw how red the tips of Billy’s ears were.

“I’m… fine…” Billy puffed, pressing his palm to Teddy’s shoulder for support. When he looked up again, his eyes were sparkling with mirthful tears, a huge grin across his lips. Teddy felt his heart tumble and he fought back a flush of his own. “I haven’t laughed that hard in a while,” Billy admitted, smiling abashedly and standing upright.

Teddy found himself coughing to cover the twinge of nervous giggles bubbling up in his throat. “Well, I’m glad I could at least make you laugh. That gets me one step out of trouble, right?”

“Maybe,” Billy retorted, motioning to the twisted metal arch. “You wanna head in? I think they’re only open until four-thirty today.”

“Sure.” Teddy led the way, Billy close at his side and chatting exuberantly about the different exhibits (mostly the penguins). He watched the way brown orbs lit up when Billy talked about something that excited him, or the twist of his lips when he found something irritating. Teddy was more than happy to walk and listen for ages, but before he knew it they were at the ticket booth. Quickly, he placed a hand on Billy’s wallet, his own fingers brushing against the others’ slim digits before he smiled.

“It’s on me. I’m trying to make up for being an asshat, remember?”

Billy smiled back at him, a big, wonderful grin that left Teddy feeling like his knees were going to tremble or his face was going to light on fire, something that would give him away. However, he managed to control himself enough to pull out his own wallet and purchase the tickets, a welcome distraction from the effects of Billy’s smile.

They entered the large building that housed the full-sized tanks, and Teddy immediately felt calmer with the bluish light enshrouding him. He was glad that he took Kate's advice and went home to change into faded blue jeans and a fitted button-up, since he would have stuck out like a sore thumb in his office attire. The jacket had been the one Kate gave him prior to their park outing, and Teddy hated to admit it, but he loved the way the leather fit snug across his shoulders while giving him more than enough movement in the arms. While he pulled down the zipper on the jacket, since he no longer had to block out the chill of the ocean breeze, Billy had swiftly moved to the nearest tank and was waving sporadically at Teddy.

“Hey, come look at this!”

He moved to see what had gotten the other so excited, bending down to peer at a tiny, bright blue…

“A slug?” Teddy asked, a questioning look in his expression. That earned him a pout from Billy, and he had to keep himself from chuckling.

“It’s a nudibranch!” Billy insisted, looking back to the creepy crawler, which was starting to make Teddy feel more than a little uncomfortable with the way it was moving. “Isn’t it cool?”

“Don’t know if ‘cool’ would be my choice of word…”

“Cute?”

“Definitely not.” Teddy was watching with a wrinkled nose as the slug slowly detached itself from the chunk of coral it had been slinking along.

“Ooo, it’s going to swim! I haven’t seen them do that before!”

While Billy was distracted by the writhing form of the electric blue water worm, Teddy took a step back from the glass. Yeah, that thing was definitely giving him the creeps. He shook his head and moved down the glass a little to examine a sea star suctioned to the surface. It was better than the slug, but that weird little mouth thing…

“Hey,” Billy whispered from beside him, bumping their shoulders together gently. “I think they’re going to be feeding the sea otters soon, if you wanted to check that out?”

Teddy was immensely grateful for the change of scenery, considering he had suddenly developed a serious case of ‘ick’ around the current tank. “Yeah, that sounds great.”

They walked side-by-side, close enough for their fingers to brush gently a few times, though Teddy assumed it was due to the crowd gathering around the sea otter exhibit. He glanced sidelong at Billy, noting the pink hue in his cheeks, and he reached to twine his fingers with the others’ while keeping his eyes forward. He felt Billy start by the twitch in his palm, and Teddy turned his head to say something, but his words fell flat when he saw the flush on Billy’s cheeks and the shy smile on his face. It was so much different than the broad, laughing, friendly smile he seemed to offer freely. This one felt like it belonged to him and him alone.

Holding Billy’s gaze for longer than was strictly necessary, he felt a bubbling urge to say something, to do something more than this. Teddy leaned forward slightly, encouraged by the subtle tilt of a pale chin and the increased intensity of Billy’s blush. His heart thundered so loudly it blocked out the murmur of people around them, his mind only on the young man before him.

Until a cacophony of noise rolled from the front of the crowd through to the back, and Teddy twitched back to an upright position with a quick cough. He was fairly certain his cheeks were red, but he let it stay in place. After all, Billy was staring at his ratty sneakers with such a fervor Teddy was pretty sure he was attempting to burn a hole in the ground beneath them. Smiling, Teddy tugged on Billy’s hand, still linked with his own, until the slightly shorter male was tucked neatly along his side.

About halfway through the show, Billy finally looked up from his shoes for more than a millisecond, presumably because his cheeks had returned to a normal hue. Teddy beamed, shooting a quick glance out of the corner of his eye to make sure everything was still okay between them. Billy hadn’t moved away, and his fingers wriggled to a new position in Teddy’s hand before stilling again, so he took the opportunity to tug Billy away from the otters and back towards one of the rooms with floor-to-ceiling tanks.

With everyone viewing the otters, the rest of the aquarium was relatively quiet. Teddy moved to sit on a bench in front of a wall of tropical fish, keeping his hand connected with Billy’s, who swiftly moved to sit beside him. Billy positioned himself close enough so their thighs were touching, and leaned his head gingerly on Teddy’s shoulder. They sat quietly for a few moments, collecting their own thoughts before Billy spoke.

“Not that I wouldn’t love to stay like this forever but, um… That coffee from earlier is catching up with me and I have to make a quick pit stop,” he whispered, rolling his head on Teddy’s shoulder to look at the blond.

Chuckling, Teddy released his hand with some reluctance. “Okay. I guess that’s allowed. You sure you’re not just trying to politely ditch me?”

Billy shot up and feigned indignance the best he could. “Of course not! And if I am, well, you know my friends so I’m sure you’ll find some way to bribe them into helping you hunt me down.”

“Good friends.”

“The very best.”

“Like no one ever was.”

“Okay seriously, awesome cartoons references aside I have to go, stop making this difficult,” Billy whined, squirming from one side to the other and leaping up from the bench as fast as he could. “I will be right back, I swear. Quick as the Flash.”

Then, as quick as the Flash, Billy darted forward to press a chaste kiss to Teddy’s cheek before turning on his heel and speed-walking to the nearest restroom.

Teddy could feel the way his chest constricted, then flipped, and finally lurched into a series of heavy heartbeats. His cheeks were warm, he knew that, and he pushed the blush away once Billy was out of sight. With a heaving sigh, he couldn’t seem to get the grin off his lips as he turned back to the graceful movements of the fish.

He saw movement behind the tank, where he assumed the staff-only area was, but his eyes were drawn to a shockingly white head of hair. Thomas stood on the other side of the wall of fish, a huge grin plastered on his snarky mug while he waved pleasantly at Teddy. Standing from the bench, Teddy searched for a door, some way to get back there, when he saw Thomas shake his head and make a ‘tut, tut’ motion with his finger. Teddy stopped in his tracks and watched the youth hold up what appeared to be an orange ball of some sort, though it was hard to see details through the wall of water and fish. He was trying to make out what exactly it was when he blinked, and Thomas was gone. The orange ‘ball,’ however, was now situated on the front ledge of the aquarium, exactly opposite of where Thomas had been standing moments before.

Teddy frowned and hurried to grab it, glancing around to see if anyone else had been watching. But no one was near enough, and even if they had been, Teddy was fairly certain they would have hardly noticed the sudden gust of air that had been Thomas. He lifted the orange ball, which turned out to be a decorative pumpkin with a leering grin on one side and “Trick Or Treat” printed in large letters on the other. Frowning, Teddy turned the pumpkin in his hands, feeling something along the bottom of it.

On the base of the gourd was a round sticker, not the kind they would apply in a grocery store, but something that appeared to be from a children’s set. Teddy was so focused on peering at the sticker he barely noticed the approach of someone on his left side.

“Oh, fan of the Scarlet Witch?” Billy asked, grinning when he saw the jump of Teddy’s shoulders.

Taking a moment to catch his breath, he held the pumpkin out for Billy to better examine the sticker. “That’s who this is?”

“Yeah, well I mean it’s kind of squished funny so her face is a little warped but that’s definitely her. Where’d you get the pumpkin?”

“Oh, I found it,” he replied, quickly tucking it away in his shoulder bag before returning Billy’s smile. “Did you want to grab a bite to eat before we check out the rest of the aquarium?”

“Sure!”

Teddy was glad to feel the slimmer hand slip back into his own as they walked, feeling at ease with the other’s presence at his side. The thundering in his chest from earlier had quieted to a flutter at Billy’s touch, and Teddy found his mind drifting to his latest run-in with their runaway speedster. He would have to make a point of calling Kate the moment he had a chance.

“Teddy?” Billy’s voice was soft, and didn’t hold the same bubbly exuberance it had the rest of the day. He almost sounded nervous, Teddy thought as he watched the lanky student fidget. “Are you doing anything this Saturday?”

“Not that I’m aware of,” Teddy took a brief moment to think over his schedule, and he had a feeling that Kate may have mentioned Saturday to him at some point, but he was also sure she would understand a change in plans. “Why?”

Billy was flushed again, looking elsewhere when he mumbled his reply. “Well, Cassie’s having this Halloween party and I was wondering if you maybe wanted to go?”

He spent a few moments quietly analyzing the slight tremor in Billy’s palm, the way the flush was creeping up to the tips of his ears, and the twist of his bottom lip caught between his teeth. Teddy had precisely five seconds to decide if Billy was asking him on a date before he realized he really didn’t care what it was, Billy was asking him somewhere and it made him this nervous to do it--like he thought Teddy would say no. Letting a smile drift into place, Teddy reached forward and brushed his thumb across a pale cheek, hoping to calm the other down. But Billy’s face turned a deeper shade of red as his eyes slipped back to meet Teddy’s. “Yes, of course I’ll go, if you’d like me to.”

Billy’s lean body seemed to lose some of the built-up tension, and he returned Teddy’s smile instead of worrying his lip. “Cool, um… Here I think I have the address written in my phone, I’ll text it to you…” he whispered, letting go of Teddy’s hand to dig his phone from his pocket and sift through the information there.

Teddy let his eyes look away while Billy was fiddling with his phone, gazing around the room while he reached a hand into his satchel and let his fingers drift over the odd ‘gift’ Thomas had left behind. He knew the young man was striving to explain something to him, but all of these little ‘clues’ were getting frustrating, and part of Teddy wondered if the whole point was to throw him off a proper lead.

His gaze moved to a couple in the far corner of the aquarium, obviously making out in the dim lighting. Teddy couldn’t really blame them, he’d just about done something similar himself, not ten minutes prior. The girl laughed, a sharp noise that was eerily familiar, and she flicked a twist of dark hair over her shoulder--that’s when Teddy finally caught a glimpse of her features.

“Billy,” he hissed, grabbing Billy’s shoulder and tugging him so they had ducked behind a bank of smaller tanks in the middle of the room. Teddy peered around them and got another look at the pair, a smile struggling to break free.

“What’s wrong?” Billy whispered, watching Teddy’s face with confusion. Teddy only pointed around the bend in the glass, and Billy squirmed to get a better view without being seen. “Oh my god, is that…?”

They caught each other’s gaze and both burst into a fit of laughter, excusing themselves from the aquarium as quickly as possible, lest they be seen or heard.

“I think that’s the first time I’ve seen Eli smile in, well, probably a hundred years or something,” Billy grinned, twining his hand with Teddy’s again.

Teddy couldn’t hide the grin anymore, and he snickered quietly. “Kate is definitely going to hear about this tomorrow.”


	3. A Little Bit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Moving to the side of the room and scanning the crowds for a familiar tangle of dark hair, Teddy realized he’d made a grave mistake. He’d forgotten to ask what Billy was dressed as.
> 
> Quickly, he pulled out his cell and hammered out a text to Billy, glancing up once he was finished to try and spot the other. There were lots of people in masks, and several more wearing hats or another kind of headpiece, so it was unlikely that he could spot Billy among the group. His phone buzzed and he frowned a bit at the screen. 
> 
> “You’re going to make me guess, aren’t you…” Teddy whispered, rolling his eyes before shooting back a response to the text. He alternated between replying to texts, muttering guesses to himself, and watching the pulse of bodies for anyone moving towards him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone for reading! You guys are the best, and your comments always make my day. Honestly, nothing motivates me to post more than knowing you are all waiting. <3
> 
> Kuchen and Melerune, thank you for all you help, as per always. Your support is definitely needed for my poor fragile mind during moments of doubt or panic over story direction. I hope you don't mind, but I will count on you in future chapters as well~!
> 
> I finally got off my butt and made a tumblr account for prompts/info/side projects/etc. You can come find me [ here~](http://amonaewrites.tumblr.com/) This chapter has not been edited as rigorously as the previous ones, so please let me know if you see anything off about it! Any faults are my own, and you can point them out via AO3 or tumblr.
> 
> Chapters will update on a regular basis, always the first weekend of every month. I have myself on a pretty strict writing schedule as part of my day-to-day, so the only time chapters will be late is if I’m ill or have other serious obligations.

“ _ **It's so nice to be alive**_

_**When you meet someone who bewitches you** _

_**Will he be my all or did I just fall** _

_**A little bit, a little bit in love?** _ _**”** _

_A Little Bit In Love from Wonderful Town_

“So, how was the aquarium?”

“Sorry?” Kate looked up from the bin she had been rummaging though. The Shepherds had decided to drop off an entire bankers box filled to the brim with a bunch of Thomas’s belongings--Kate had taken it upon herself to sift through the ‘junk.’ Apparently they had dropped by on Wednesday, and though Teddy wasn’t available they left behind the box with a promise to be back at some point today. It wasn’t a visit Teddy was looking forward to, he still wasn’t able to piece together any kind of a lead from the information they had, and Thomas seemed to be toying with them.

“The aquarium,” Teddy repeated, tucking a few of the books he had been using for research back on the shelf. “At least, I’m pretty sure it was you. It was hard to tell with all the making out that was--” He stopped halfway through his sentence when he saw Kate’s features move from shock, to flushed embarrassment, to barely concealed rage.

“That’s where you went on your date with Billy, isn’t it?” she spoke through gritted teeth, and Teddy tried his best not to laugh with the twisting of his nerves.

“Yes. And I won’t tell on you, I just wanted to rag on you a little because you’re always getting chances to tease me and I thought…”

“You thought you’d get your revenge?” Kate asked, standing from her crouched position over the box and striding towards Teddy, who was doing his best to keep the desk between them.

“Yes?” He offered weakly, ducking around the left side of the desk as Kate lunged for him. He should have known better, she’d been faking her direction and caught his sides with waggling fingers. Teddy burst out laughing, trying to swat her hands away. “K-kate s-s-stop! You know… I’m t-t-ticklish!”

Kate was grinning, not letting up until Teddy was red in the face and tears threatened to stream down his cheeks. When she stepped back, looking satisfied, Teddy was leaning with shaky hands clutching the desk for support.

“J-jerk…” he wheezed, focusing his energy on collecting his thoughts and getting himself back to a semblance of normal.

“You love it,” she replied, turning back to the box and letting Teddy slowly get a hold of his breathing. “So how was _your_ date, now that we’re on the subject.”

It wasn’t a question, and the lilting way she had said ‘your’ made Teddy think she could read something in the sudden pink tones in his cheeks. “Oh, it was good.”

Kate cleared her throat, looking over her shoulder at him. “Just ‘good?’ Really?”

Teddy busied himself with the files on the desk, trying to keep the blush off his face. He was having a hard time of it, since every thought of yesterday afternoon made him either want to jump up and down and scream like a child or hide under the desk and never come out again. “Yeah, good.”

Frowning, Kate shook her head at him and made a clearly displeased noise in the back of her throat. “So, changing the topic, what are you doing Saturday?”

“We had something planned, didn’t we?” Teddy asked, glancing over at her from his position at the desk.

“Nothing official, no. It’s just my Halloween bash that you’ve come to EVERY YEAR since forever.”

Teddy groaned, wincing at what he expected would be an onslaught of narrowed eyes and cold shoulders. “Shit… Kate, I’m really sorry but Billy invited me to this thing that Cassie is throwing and… I’m really, _really_ sorry. I’ll make it up to you, I swear.”

“Oh, you’ll make it up to me alright,” she huffed, approaching him again and pulling out her phone in the process. “You’re going to make it up to me by wearing _this_ to the party.”

Kate slid her phone across the desk and Teddy prepared himself mentally for what he was sure would be an embarrassingly awful costume as he looked at the screen. His brows shot up when he saw what it was, and he looked at Kate questioningly. “Seriously? You **have** this?”

She shrugged as though it were no big deal, but the grin on her face told Teddy she had probably tracked it down specifically for him. “Yeah, well. It’s not the most authentic one out there but, it’s pretty close I think…”

“Pretty close?!” Teddy yelped, holding the phone close to his face and zooming in to try and see as many details as he could. “Look at that hood, and the shield! The detailing is perfect!”

“Ted, you’re totally geeking out on me here,” she teased, laughing as she wrenched her phone out of his hands. “You can borrow it. Come over early on Saturday to try it on, I’ll have a seamstress on speed dial just in case it doesn’t fit, but I’m pretty sure it will. Then we can go to the party together.”

Teddy had his brain too wrapped up in the awesomeness of the costume when he shook his head back to reality. “Wait, together? You’re going too? What about your party?” he asked, brows knit together.

“Oh, it’s the same party. Cassie and I throw joint parties every year, she plans while I finance and decorate. Well, _daddy_ finances, but that’s besides the point.”

Teddy could tell she was laughing at his expense, but he couldn’t find himself to be too upset with her. After all, she was providing him with the **perfect** costume.

~~~~~~

Billy was scribbling all over his notes when he felt someone looking over his shoulder, and he glanced up to meet the bright blue of Cassie’s eyes. They had taken over one of the round library tables, their usual studying spot, in between classes. Eli was supposed to meet up with them after his class, when the actual studying would begin.

“Whatcha drawing?” she asked, peering at the notebook curiously.

Billy tugged it away from her when she tried to grab it from him. “Nothing! I’m just… trying to figure out what to do for a Halloween costume.”

“Ooo so you **are** coming! I was beginning to get worried, since you didn’t give me a definitive answer when I asked last time,” she teased, elbowing him and scooting her chair closer. “Are you bringing a certain _someone_?”

“Cassie…” he grumbled in what he hoped was a warning tone.

“Come on Billy! I didn’t ask for all that many details about your date and stuff, but I wanna know if you guys are, you know… serious.”

 _Serious? I don’t even know if we’re…_ Billy felt his cheeks heat up at the memory of an almost-kiss. Everything about that sure felt serious, but his mind was still working through all the twists of emotions that shuddered through him when he was around Teddy, and what any of it really meant.

“Hello? Earth to Billy?” Cassie was waving her hand in front of his face, and Billy could feel the blush flooding his skin, so he focused his attention back on his notebook. She just grinned at him and prodded the tips of his ears. “So, I guess he’s coming, huh?”

Billy offered a mute nod, not trusting his voice to be anything more than a squeak at the moment. He frowned at his page, and finally pushed it towards Cassie with a sigh. “Which one should I choose?”

He’d managed to scribble out a few costume ideas on a page--Beetlejuice, Spider-Man, Red Robin, a few random ‘generic’ costumes like a greaser or a pirate. Cassie examined the page, her lips twisted in concentration and her brow furrowed before she set the notebook down on the table. Billy looked disappointed when she didn’t say anything, but she quickly covered her eyes with her hand and jabbed her finger blindly at the paper. Peeking through her fingers, she grinned at him.

“Spidey it is!”

“Cassie! Seriously, I need your help deciding!” he complained, pulling his drawings back.

“And I did. You’re going as Spider-Man. And I’m sure your equally geeky boyfriend will appreciate it,” she teased, shoving at him gently. “Plus, it’s pretty easy to find a cheap costume, and you don’t really have the funds to pull off something awesome like Red Robin.”

“He’s not my…” Billy sighed and shook his head, tucking away the notebook. “Nevermind. What are you going as?”

“Alice!”

“Cooper?”

“Haha, very funny. Alice in Wonderland, smartass.”

Cassie pulled out her phone to show him a picture and he squinted at it. “That skirt is kind of… short.”

“Pervert,” she replied, pulling away her phone and punching him in the arm. Billy was about to retort when he saw Eli approaching their table with a stack of textbooks in his arms (on top of the ones Billy was sure were already in his bookbag). Sighing, Billy grabbed his own books and slid them onto the table, his mind already fast-forwarding to Halloween.

_I wonder what Teddy will go as…_

~~~~~~

Upon returning from lunch with Kate, Teddy was surprised to see Rick in his office, rifling through the files on his desk at a breakneck speed. He noted that a few had already tumbled to the floor in the harried search, and Teddy quickly replaced the frown forming on his face with what he hoped was an easy-going smile.

“Hello, Sir. Can I help you find something?”

Rick looked up from the desk, eyes wild and startled. “Altman! Thank Christ. Where the hell is the Shepherd file?”

Teddy held up the file in his hands, which his supervisor quickly snatched away. The blond had decided to fill Kate in on all the details of his run-ins with Thomas over lunch, and they both decided to leave them out of the official file for the time being. The kid was definitely running from something, but Teddy wanted to know his reasons before throwing him back towards his parents. His gut was telling him something else was going on with that situation, and it gave him a feeling of unease.

“What the fuck have you two been doing for two weeks? You just have to find one bloody kid!” Rick was raising his voice now, slamming the file (that was three times as thick as it had been when they’d received it) onto Teddy’s desk.

“Sir, we were simply doing background checks with people who may have known Thomas, as there are no direct leads. We aren’t even certain he’s still in the city,” Teddy replied, keeping his back straight and trying to appear alert but not towering over Rick’s measly 5’4”. For some reason, his supervisor got touchy when he remembered that nearly everyone else was taller than him.

“So you’ve just been dicking around,” Rick growled, stepping towards the pair with narrowed eyes. “Look, I know you two think you’re hot shit since the boss moved you up so quick, but I think you’re too young and too lazy for this. If you don’t find this kid, you can bet your asses that things aren’t going to be so peachy for you in the near future.”

Teddy could feel Kate tensing up beside him, and he kept his body still as a statue, hoping she wouldn’t explode until _after_ Rick had left the room. Thankfully, he appeared to be finished with his little rant, and stormed to the door.

“Oh, and Mr. Shepherd is in the lobby, so I’ll be sending him up real quick.”

The second the door slammed shut, Kate turned her narrowed eyes to the spot where Rick had been and outright _snarled_. “I just want to punch him square between those stupid, fucking, beady eyes of his and then rip out his innards through his--”

“Kate, breathe. He’s gone, and our client is probably coming up any second. I’m assuming he’s about as happy with the progress we’ve made as Rick is. We have to give him something, something to keep them off our backs for a little while longer while we try to figure this out.” Teddy was keeping his voice a soft murmur, trying to talk Kate down from her anger while also ensuring no one else would overhear their conversation.

She heaved a slow sigh next to him, shaking herself out of her current mood and into a more work-oriented one. “Okay, what can we give him? There’s no way we can tell him that Thomas has approached you. Well, sort of approached you.”

Teddy nodded, sifting through the file in front of him. “Yeah, and he doesn’t exactly have a whole lot of friends who he might be hiding out with… Not that we know of anyway. Do you think we could buy some time by saying we’re going off of anonymous tips?”

“Possibly,” she replied, lowering her voice another notch when she heard footsteps outside their office. “Probably. It’s all we have to go on right now, so hopefully that will placate him until we can figure this out.”

A sharp knock on the door interrupted anything Teddy had been about to add, and he quickly moved to settle behind his desk, Kate standing watchful at the back of his chair. “Come in.”

Mr. Shepherd looked like shit since the last time Teddy had seen him, his shirt was wrinkled and he lacked the formal tie he favored before. There were deep, dark bags under his eyes, and Teddy wondered if the man had been sleeping. Motioning to the chair across from the desk, the blond was hopeful that it would be easier speaking with Mr. Shepherd than it had been with Rick. The man in front of him didn’t look upset, he just looked exhausted.

“Mr. Altman… Have you found anything?”

“I’m afraid we don’t have anything substantial as of yet,” Teddy replied calmly, keeping his voice soft and even, as though he were speaking to a spooked animal. “We’ve had a few anonymous tips after we put out a description of your son, but nothing concrete. Are you sure he is still in the city?”

The man gave a feeble nod before focusing on his palms. “Yes. There’s nowhere else for him to go to. I’m positive he must still be here…”

Teddy glanced at Kate over his shoulder, seeking a silent reassurance before he pressed this man any further for information. One of his hunches was hinging on the fact that both parents were keeping information from the investigative division, information that may explain why Thomas was missing in the first place. “Mr. Shepherd, if I may… Do you have idea why Thomas may have run off? Perhaps there was some tension at home, or an argument between Thomas and yourself or your wife?”

He watched the man visibly bristle before him, and Teddy tensed his muscles in preparation for either a verbal or physical attack.

“No. There was nothing wrong at home, and how **dare** you suggest it.”

Mr. Shepherd glanced up from his palms long enough for Teddy to see his narrowed eyes, and the swirl of putrid emotions hiding behind them. He suddenly felt very uncomfortable, like something in that look could harm him, and Teddy stood from the large wing-backed chair. Kate shifted at his side, preparing to escort their client from the room should the need arise.

“My apologies for insinuating anything you may have found unpleasant. The fact of the matter is we don’t have much to go on from here, and if you don’t start telling us the truth about why Thomas left--”

“I have told you the truth!” Mr. Shepherd rose from the chair, his voice an echoing roar, too loud for his thin frame. “You are wasting time, detective, and you would do well not to waste anymore.”

“Are you threatening me, Mr. Shepherd?” Teddy asked, keeping his tone flat, though he could feel himself bristling with the urge to lurch forward and do something other than remain under that gaze. He sensed Kate at his side, hand hovering level with her hip, where she had a small blade hidden beneath her blouse. But the man in front of them seemed to deflate, his shoulders drooping and eyes losing their edge. Teddy could feel himself relax a little more, his nerves still dancing dangerously on the edge of adrenaline.

“No, Mr. Altman. I am not threatening you. I am worried about the safety of our son, and if you can’t find him, we will have to try something else.”

“I promise you, sir, we are doing our utmost to locate Thomas, and we will inform you the moment we have new information,” Teddy replied, watching Mr. Shepherd bob his head and listlessly shuffle from the room.

Kate waited for the door to click shut before stepping across the room and locking it, her body tense and held near the wall to listen as Mr. Shepherd’s footsteps fade away. When Teddy was certain they were alone, and that no one was listening in, he leaned his hands on the edge of the desk and drew in a shaky breath. He wasn’t surprised to see his forearms trembling, something about that man had felt so _off_ , so threatening, it was all he could do to keep himself together.

“What the _fuck_ was that?” Kate hissed, her arms wrapped tight around her middle and her face the same pale shade as the walls.

Teddy just shook his head, feeling the nausea well up in the pit of his stomach. “I don’t know, but I’m beginning to think I understand why Thomas might have wanted to get out of there.”

~~~~~~

With the events of Mr. Shepherd’s visit behind them, Teddy and Kate redoubled their efforts to get a coherent idea of where this case was leading them. It was moving further and further from a simple missing person’s towards some kind of family drama that Teddy wasn’t entirely sure he wanted to be involved in--but he’d gone too far down the rabbit hole to turn back now.

He could tell that the events of Thursday afternoon had put a lot of strain on Kate, and though she tried hard to keep herself calm, he could see the tension between her shoulder blades. They spent the majority of Friday morning starting the investigation over from scratch, using a different angle of approach. Now they were digging up information on Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd instead of Thomas, trying to determine the young man’s reasoning behind his rather peculiar actions. Teddy was pouring through their histories, while Kate was working through the underground mutant circles with a weak hope they could locate Thomas that way.

“Kate?” Teddy’s voice felt heavy in the silence of the room.

His dark-haired partner didn’t even look up from the computer screen. “Yeah?”

“You have everything sorted out for tomorrow? Did you need me to bring anything?” He was hoping the change in topic would lighten the mood, since neither of them would be much fun at a party if they were this put-out.

“Huh? Oh, yeah,” she replied, glancing up with a smile. “Don’t forget to stop by early for your fitting.”

Teddy rolled his eyes and re-focused on the files in front of him. “Yes’m. I’ll be there bright and early.”

“And by that you mean no earlier than noon, right?”

“Of course.”

They worked in relative silence for a few more minutes before Kate piped up again. “So when are you picking Billy up?”

“Oh, he’s meeting me there.” Teddy instantly wished he had said anything else, since she was glaring daggers at him again. “What?”

“Ted! You’re supposed to pick him up for a date!” She complained, rolling up a piece of scrap paper and chucking it at his head.

“Okay, firstly,” he frowned, dodging the projectile with ease. “Billy asked me, so shouldn’t he be doing the picking up? And secondly, it’s not really a formal date if it’s an invite to a friends’ party, right?”

Kate let an agitated huff slip through her lips before she resumed her glare. “When someone asks you to go to an event, even if it’s a friends’ party, it’s assumed that you are going _as a couple_.”

Teddy could feel his cheeks heating up before he had control over them, and he quickly looked down to the police report on the desk. “Oh… But I think he’s helping Cassie and Eli with costume stuff right before.”

“Then I’ll let you get away with it this time, Altman,” Kate replied, putting on her best mockery of their supervisor’s voice. “But seriously, are you guys a couple?”

“Honestly Kate, I’m not really sure. I mean we haven’t really…” He could feel the pressure building in his eardrums as his pulse thundered through his body.

“You haven’t really what?”

“... _kissed_.”

Things went so quiet that Teddy had to look up to be sure Kate hadn’t left the room (or less likely, fainted). She was staring at him with a mix of disbelief and confusion before she shook her head. “Really?”

“Really.”

“But what about all those dates? You didn’t kiss him goodbye or anything?” she asked, her voice softer than it had been before.

“That’s the thing, Kate. I’m not sure they were dates. I mean, I know _now_ that he’s interested in me like that but… It’s a bit tricky if you’re not sure,” he muttered, staring at the file but not really absorbing any of the information. “I think we’re both a little apprehensive of the whole situation. You know I haven’t exactly had a striking amount of experience in the relationship department.”

“True, and I think Billy’s along the same lines from what I heard from Cassie,” Kate replied, going silent while she scrolled through another web forum on mutant groups. “So I think tomorrow will be a great chance for you guys to maybe _talk_ about some things, like what you both might want from this relationship.”

Teddy flushed again and sighed--he certainly didn’t want to admit it, but Kate did have a good point. Both Billy and himself were so hesitant to make any kind of move or ask anything of the other that things might fall apart before they even began. “Okay, so should I ask him if he wants to go steady or something?” he quipped, glancing at Kate and watching her chuckle from behind the monitor.

“You know, that might be a good start.”

~~~~~~

“Cassie, are you sure this fits okay…?” Billy was trying to examine himself in the full-length mirror in Cassie’s bedroom, but wasn’t having a lot of luck. He’d managed to find a pretty decent Spider-Man costume for a relatively low price, but now he was feeling a little nervous about wearing basically a body suit around a bunch of people he didn’t know (and Teddy). That thought made his stomach twist and Billy thought he would be sick from nerves alone.

Cassie was curling her hair, using a smaller mirror since Billy had taken over the large one with his fussing. “You look great, stop worrying. Plus, if you feel like you want to disappear you just have to put on the mask, right? Ouch!” She pulled a finger away from the curling iron, catching it between her lips to cool the sting of the burn.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Did you need some help with that?” Billy watched with concern as she wrangled another lock of hair around the curling iron.

“No, I think I’m okay… I mean, Kate usually helps me out but she’s helping Teddy get his costume fitted,” she murmured, concentrating on her reflection in the mirror as she let another ringlet loose. “Ah hah! Almost done.”

The twist in his stomach unfurled into a mass of butterflies when Cassie mentioned Teddy’s name, and Billy focused on twisting the fabric of the mask between his hands instead of his reflection in the mirror. He was fairly certain he was as red as the jumpsuit anyway, he didn’t need a visual of it. “Eli’s meeting us there?” he asked, quickly sidestepping his own jitters.

Cassie nodded, dousing her head in a generous helping of hairspray. Once the fog had settled, she spoke again. “Yeah, he said his costume is pretty low-maintenance, but he wouldn’t tell me what it was. He’s just going to take the subway over there.”

“What do you think he’s going as?”

“Beats me. Probably some book character or something. Remember last year?” Cassie took the time to exaggeratedly roll her eyes before applying false lashes to them.

“Yeah, he was a character from… some science fiction novel right?” Billy winced, feeling bad that he couldn’t remember, but the reference had been so obscure it had gone over even his head.

“Something like that. I told him if it wasn’t a movie, people weren’t going to know who he was supposed to be! And he kind of looked like a hobo.”

“A space hobo, though,” Billy chuckled, glad to have a change of topic so his mind wasn’t so focused on the rapidly approaching evening. A glance at the clock let him know they only had an hour before they needed to head uptown. “Did you need a hand with anything? I’m pretty much ready to go…”

Cassie looked over to him, giving him a quick once-over with her eyes to make sure there were no leftover tags. “Yeah, could you get all the stupid accessory bits out of my costume bag? And I wish you would let me put at least a little styling gel or something in your hair…” she wheedled, pouting at him.

“There’s no point, Cass,” he replied, shaking his head as he went to dig through the plastic bag that had contained her costume. Cassie had already laid the dress and petticoat out on the bed, but all the little bows and baubles were still trapped in the plastic lining. “I would just mess up my hair the second I put the mask on anyway.”

Cassie snatched the headband from him as soon as he got close, cautiously arranging it among the piles of curls on her head. “There, that look okay?”

Billy reached over and adjusted the bow slightly before nodding. “Perfect. I’ll just wait in the hall while you get changed, ok? Then we can head out?”

“Yup! I won’t be longer than a minute, but I’ll probably get you to zip me up, okay?”

“Yeah, that’s fine. I figured as much anyway,” he chuckled, moving into the hallway and shutting the bedroom door behind him. Billy pulled his phone from a pocket (there were two conveniently added to the suit, though they couldn’t hold much) and checked for any missed messages. He felt the blush and grin rise to his face at the same moment, and he scrolled through it.

**HOT COFFEE STALKER:** _Hey, I'm looking forward to seeing you tonight. Can't wait to show you my costume, you're definitely going to flip. Here's a quick sample Kate will kill me if she knew I was spoiling the surprise._

Billy looked at the attached picture and felt his chest stirring with a wave of emotions all over again, spreading a flush to the tips of his ears. The picture showed a well-defined chest and shoulders (which were easy to see through the tight blue and white fabric) and the edge of a red shield at the bottom of the frame. Billy could just make out the shape of Teddy’s chin at the top of the image, and he could see the reason for the badly-angled photo over a broad shoulder--Kate was rushing at him and probably stringing curses together. Billy was fairly certain Teddy had just risked his life to send him a snapshot of his costume, which he would see in a few hours.

**BILLY:** _Are you okay? Did Kate murder you for taking that?_

_Also, I’m very excited to see the full costume._

Billy shot off his quick reply seconds before Cassie was calling him back into the room to help with the zipper. He went to her aid, although his mind was stuck on what he would do when he saw Teddy, since the less logical part of his brain was stuck drooling and speaking gibberish.

He’d only seen a fraction of the outfit, he was probably doomed when he saw the whole thing.

~~~~~~

_Yup, definitely doomed._

Billy could see Teddy enter the quickly-crowding building, his broad shoulders and mop of blond hair just visible through the masses of people. Teddy had chosen to leave the hood down, but even without it Billy could tell he made an amazing Cap. He felt his cheeks flaring up again so he quickly pulled the Spider-Man mask over his face and moved through the crowd. Billy's pocket buzzed and he pulled his phone out quickly, fumbling with gloved fingers at the screen.

**HOT COFFEE STALKER:** _Hey, I’m here. Where are you? What costume are you wearing and I’ll come find you._

**BILLY:** _I had the ‘sense’ to find a quiet corner. I’ll be right over._

**HOT COFFEE STALKER:** _Seriously I’ll meet you halfway, what’s your costume?_

**BILLY:** _Well, they say I’m big on the web._

**HOT COFFEE STALKER:** _Okay, I’ll bite. But I’m going to need more of a hint than that._

**BILLY:** _I am really starting to doubt your nerd prowess here._

_But people say I’m friendly in this neighborhood, so I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt._

Billy tucked the phone away, ridiculously huge grin on his face (thankfully) obscured by his mask. He could feel another buzz in his pocket, and saw Teddy alternating between looking down at his own phone and peering through the crowds. His face was scrunched in concentration, and Billy couldn’t help but chuckle.

Sneaking through the crowds, Billy slipped behind ‘Cap’ without the blond taking notice of him. Waiting a few moments in Teddy’s shadow, watching the emotions flickering quickly behind blue eyes, Billy lurched his arms forward and caught the other’s sides in a jolt. He was pleased to see the jump that arched through Teddy’s back, and Billy couldn’t help but laugh when Teddy turned to him with a frown-almost-pout.

“Watch it, Tiger. You just about got punched in the face,” Teddy teased, shaking his head with a smile and peering into the insectoid eyes of Billy’s mask. “That is you in there, right?”

“Yeah, it’s me, your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man,” Billy replied, tugging at the edge of the mask and pulling it off with a sigh of relief. As awesome as the costume was when it was put together, it only took about thirty seconds for the inside of the mask to become hotter than a sauna. “We really need to work on your superhero knowledge, you should have gotten this from the first hint.”

~~~~~~

Teddy arrived at the large house on his own, as Kate had bailed a few hours earlier in order to help Cassie with the ‘finishing touches’ on the party. Her father purchased the house for her to use while she was going to post-secondary, though she had only lived in it for a month before deciding it was both too large and too obnoxious for her personal use. She proceeded to rent it out on occasion to local bands or other events, provided they pay for the cleaning of the house afterward, and instead chose to live in a moderately-sized apartment uptown. Teddy preferred the apartment, since it didn’t feel like he was apt to hear his voice echoing back at him there.

The house was bustling with people, he could see the shapes of them through the windows and the thrum of music greeted him from the sidewalk. Upon entering the house, Teddy immediately had to sidestep a guy juggling more drinks than he had hands and shuffle into the main ‘living room,’ which Kate always used as the major center for parties. It was a huge, open room with a lofty ceiling and windows along three walls. There was an overhang from the second level with a balcony, where the DJ was set up and a small staging area where Kate could make any important announcements or where a live band would occasionally play. It was currently empty, but any announcements usually came an hour or two into the party, once people had settled and started to find their way around.

Moving to the side of the room and scanning the crowds for a familiar tangle of dark hair, Teddy realized he’d made a grave mistake. He’d forgotten to ask what Billy was dressed as.

Quickly, he pulled out his cell and hammered out a text, glancing up once he was finished to try and spot the student. There were lots of people in masks, and several more wearing hats or another kind of headpiece, so it was unlikely that he would be able to spot Billy among the group. His phone buzzed and he frowned at the screen.

“You’re going to make me guess, aren’t you…” Teddy whispered, rolling his eyes before shooting back a response. He alternated between replying to texts, muttering guesses to himself, and watching the pulse of bodies for anyone moving towards him.

He’d just managed to work out the answer to all of Billy’s incessant puns when he felt something grabbing at his sides. Teddy nearly jumped out of his skin but managed to reign in his response at the last second, turning with a gentle glare in his eyes but a smile on his lips.

“Watch it, Tiger. You just about got punched in the face.”

He was ninety percent sure that it was Billy under that Spider-Man costume, and sure enough he got the reference and shot back one of his own. Teddy couldn’t help the grin that was starting to take over as much of his face as possible while he talked with the lean young man. The choice of costume had been a good one, Billy’s gangly form suited Peter Parker’s to a T, and Teddy was appreciating the way the bodysuit fit in all the right places. He forced back the blush that threatened his cheeks and turned his eyes to meet Billy’s buggy ones.

“That is you in there, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it’s me, your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.”

He was pretty sure that Billy was still talking, his lips were moving and Teddy assumed they were forming words, but his brain had completely stalled with Billy had pulled off his mask. Pale cheeks were flushed with warmth, dark hair was sprawling at all sorts of strange angles, and Billy’s breath was coming in short, quick bursts. Feeling bold (due in large to his brain not communicating with any other part of his body), Teddy reached out and gently brushed a few strands of hair from Billy’s forehead.

“Um… Teddy?” Billy’s voice was hardly more than a squeak in the room, and the flush that had been delicately scattered on his face had darkened to the tips of his ears and down the neckline of his costume.

Feeling his own face heat, Teddy fought down the swarm of butterflies that decided to take up residence in his chest. He coughed to realign himself before nodding to the far side of the room. “Sorry, uh… I was spacing out a little. You wanna grab a drink before this thing starts?”

~~~~~~

Billy thought his chest was going to explode.

He managed to nod mutely at Teddy’s offer of drinks before following the blond through the throngs of people. Billy was concerned that if he tried to say something he would choke on his own tongue, it felt heavy and useless in his mouth. The rest of his mind was barreling a million miles an hour while trying to decipher the look that Teddy had given him only moments before.

The second he’d removed his mask, Billy sensed Teddy's growing silence, though he continued to babble on about superhero etiquette. It wasn’t until he looked up, meeting those endless blue oceans, that Billy realized part of why Teddy was so quiet--he was staring.

_Shit do I have something on my face? Did the dye from this cheapo mask leak all over me or something? Oh god, maybe I have a huge zit from all the sweating..._

When Billy allowed his eyes to slip back up to meet with Teddy’s, he felt the sway of the subway car all over again. There was a whorl of emotion, none of which was touching the planes of Teddy’s face, but his eyes gave it all away. Billy could see all the twists and turns that were causing Teddy to hesitate, the jumps from awe to tremors of joy to the tiniest flickers of disbelief and fear were so quick it made Billy’s head spin.

Somewhere in the murky depths, Billy swore he saw a flash of what he could only describe as hunger, and it made his heart thunder so loudly behind his ribs he swore the whole room could hear it.

“Um… Teddy?”

The haze broke from the blond’s eyes, and Billy felt a hint of regret when the placid mask of a smile broke forth on Teddy’s face.

“Sorry,” 'Cap' murmured, his expression turning a bit sheepish. The look in Teddy's features were a bit more honest, so Billy allowed himself to relax while they sought out a quieter place to wait for the others.

~~~~~~

Feeling calmer with a drink in his hand, Teddy had managed to find a relatively unoccupied corner of the room where he and Billy could await the opening ‘announcements’ that were bound to take place any moment. He could see Kate up on the loft, speaking with the DJ while Cassie fiddled with some kind of machine off in the corner.

Billy nudged his side before pointing across the room, where Eli had just come in looking all kinds of uncomfortable. Eli was wearing what appeared to be a robe and a scarf, striped with red and gold, and all Teddy could think was how warm that would be later. Not that his own costume was going to keep him a whole lot cooler, but at least there were a limited number of layers.

“I’m going to go grab him and come back over here,” Billy shouted over the thrum of music, and Teddy nodded before watching him zip through the crowd with ease. Teddy assumed the skill must come with being a University student, as Eli followed Billy back through the crowd after the two had shared a few words (and Billy had flailed wildly in Teddy’s general direction). Somewhere along the way, Billy had misplaced his first drink of the night, so he and Eli took a detour to one of the bars set up on the edge of the room. Teddy took his eyes off the pair to look around, picking out what he thought were the best costumes of the bunch. There were several superheroes, unsurprising as it was a Halloween party in New York and the Avengers mansion was only a few blocks away from Kate’s house; then there were groups of pirates, ninjas, witches, aliens, and all sorts of animal ears popping up in the crowd; there were a few costumes he didn’t recognize, and a few that were outright creepy (he swore some of those masks had to be real), but overall there seemed to be a pretty good variety.

When he came out of his daze, Billy and Eli were heading back over, Billy with two drinks held high above his head as he slipped through a cluster of Star Trek characters. Teddy offered a wave to Eli when the pair came over, and the stoic young man nodded in reply. Before he could comment on Eli’s costume, there was a second beer assaulting his field of vision.

“Here!” Billy offered, smiling while he sipped on his own mixed drink--something that looked impossibly sweet and likely with a dangerously high alcohol content.

“You, sir, are trying to get me drunk.”

Billy’s features turned a soft shade of pink, but it could easily have been from the rising temperature of the room or the heat of his webbed costume. “No! I was just being courteous,” he teased, scrunching his face a little in Teddy’s general direction before turning to ask Eli about his costume.

Teddy took the beer and chuckled, chugging the third that was left in his previous bottle before depositing the empty in a nearby recycle bin. He noted now that there were several spread throughout the room, Kate had definitely thought this through even to the eventual clean-up. Returning to where Eli and Billy were chattering about school, it took him a few moments to realize they weren’t even talking about an actual school.

“So you’re telling me that you would _never_ be late to class, even though the staircases move around and do their best to screw you up?”

“I would make sure I left with enough time and knew safe, alternative routes.”

“You would totally find some forbidden corridor and get yourself a month of detention.”

Eli rolled his eyes and noticed Teddy’s return, pointing a finger accusingly towards Billy. “The guy who has zero sense of direction is trying to tell me that **I** would be the one to get lost in a magical castle.”

“I don’t know, Hogwarts sounded pretty intimidating. But the movies didn’t really capture the expanse of it all that well,” Teddy replied, seeing Billy shake his head quickly.

But it was too late, Eli had already geared up for a full-scale comparison of book vs movie universe and Teddy could see that Billy was trying not to laugh before he pulled his mask back on. Thankfully, the blond was saved by the music dimming and the crackle of a microphone coming to life.

“Testing, testing, one, two, three… Is this thing on? Can everyone hear me okay?” Cassie was holding up the mic and waving out to the crowds of people, a beaming smile on her face. Her Alice costume had really come together well, with the ringlets holding perfectly in a halo of golden hair around her face. There was a resounding roar from the crowd in response to her question, and she gave a big thumbs up to Kate, who stepped forward as well.

“Okay guys, is everyone ready to have a good time?” Kate watched the echoing reply with only a hint of a smile on the corner of her lips. She had chosen to dress as Katniss Everdeen, her dark hair braided and slung over one shoulder, her bow across the other. After Teddy’s lecture, Kate had decided against keeping her real arrows in the quiver against her back, instead opting for their relatively harmless, Nerf-tipped counterparts. As long as they remained in the quiver, they still appeared to be real.

“Now, there’s a few housekeeping things before you guys get too crazy.”

A collective groan echoed from the crowd and Kate raised a brow and looked ready to notch an arrow before Cassie stepped in with a more bubbly response.

“Hey guys, you’ll be thanking us when you really have to pee and actually know where you can go! Speaking of which, there are a few bathrooms in the house but there’s a row of porta potties out back near the spook trailer in case you can’t find them in the house. There are three doors to enter and leave the house at the north, south, and east sides of the building. In case of a fire or other emergency, please don’t freak out and run around screaming, just head to the nearest exit.”

Cassie paused for a moment to take a drink and Kate looked extremely grateful that her friend had stepped up to take over the more difficult tasks. “Seriously though, no fires. I’ll find you, track you down, and personally kick your ass,” she added, narrowing her eyes at the crowd below.

Laughing, Cassie threw a few blonde curls out of her face before continuing. “We’ve got a big night planned for you guys, so I hope you’re ready to have fun!”

The crowd of young adults let off another rolling roar of approval as Cassie and Kate disappeared and a bubbling fog started to spill off of the loft and pour into the room below like an eerie waterfall.

“Let’s go meet up with them,” Teddy shouted, as the music came pumping back louder than before. Billy flashed him a thumbs up and Eli nodded before the three headed to the side hall and the staircase that led to the upper loft. Cassie was laughing again, and Teddy could see that Kate was smiling easily now that she wasn’t in the spotlight anymore.

Kate nudged Teddy’s shoulder with her knuckles, watching Cassie launch herself into a Billy hug with exuberance. “Hey, I think we’re probably going to hit the dance floor for a bit, you in?”

Glancing towards Billy, who was trying to de-tangle himself from Cassie’s curls without doing them too much damage, Teddy lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “Maybe? I’m not much of a dancer, you know that…”

“Oh, I know,” she teased, moving closer so the rest of their group wouldn’t hear. “But maybe a certain someone wants to dance with you?”

Teddy quickly staunched the rising flush, letting his eyes dart towards Billy before returning his glare to the woman in front of him. “Okay now you’re just trying to get a rise out of me.”

“Yes,” she replied, grinning broadly and grabbing both Cassie and Eli by the arm. “C’mon you guys. Let’s go get the dance floor started. You coming, Billy?”

“Actually, I really want to check out the movie that’s on. Cassie told me that the 1984 version of ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’ is next, and it’s probably my favorite.” He looked to Teddy, lifting his mask just enough to show his face, and the shy smile on his lips. “You in?”

“Sure, I don’t think I’ve seen that one before,” Teddy replied, catching Kate’s smirk and the wink she threw in his direction before the group of five divided and parted ways.

Billy tugged his mask back on and they headed to the basement entrance, further along the back hallway. It was quieter there, though a few people still milled around. Outside the closed door was a poster on the wall outlining the order in which the movies would be shown and roughly what time they would start at. “Should we grab another drink before heading down?” Teddy asked, his second beer nearing the end of the bottle.

“Nah, the girls will have something set up down there, they always think of this stuff,” Billy answered, quickly lacing his fingers with Teddy’s and dragging the blond into the darkened basement.

Teddy could feel the pace of his heartbeat pick up and he was grateful for the dim lighting of the stairwell. There were lit runners along the stairs so you could see where each step was, but other than that there were minimal levels of illumination. The first room on their right had a glow-in-the-dark sign that read 'FOOD AND DRINKS,' so they took a quick detour. Sure enough, there was a stocked fridge and a large spread of snacks and candies--Kate had been throwing these parties for enough years now to know exactly what was necessary and where.

Billy released Teddy’s hand to grab a few drinks for both of them before motioning to the snack table. “You wanna grab some stuff to snack on? If you haven’t seen this movie yet, you’re going to have to watch the whole thing in one sitting to really get the awesomeness of it.”

Chuckling, Teddy grabbed a few mini bags of chips, some chocolate bars, and a couple bags of mixed candies. “But what if I have to use the washroom?”

“You better go before, and if you have to go during it had better be an emergency.”

“Gotcha, emergency bathroom breaks only. Any other rules I should know about?”

“Screaming is encouraged, but not required. Oh, and no Vulcan death-grips. Cassie almost breaks my arm every time we watch a scary movie…”

“Right, screaming is okay, removing limbs by force of fear is not.”

They headed out and managed to find an unoccupied loveseat in the corner of the room, Billy talking about the pros and cons of the original versus the remake, and how it was critical to the developing horror genre. The room was filled with an array of furniture and Teddy was fairly certain Kate had commandeered every chair, couch, and cushion to the spacious basement. At the front of the room was an empty wall where the movies were being projected and a large sound system. Teddy noted where the other speakers were in the room, knowing that some of them were bound to make him jump if he didn’t find and locate them ahead of time.

“Last chance for a pee break.” Billy twisted off the cap on his vodka cooler, and Teddy could smell the artificial strawberry from where he sat on the other end of the sofa.

“I’m good.” Opening his third beer, Teddy wondered if he should slow down. Billy seemed gung-ho to keep drinking at an obscene speed, but Teddy hadn’t been much for drinking since high school, only having the occasional beer or two while out with coworkers or friends. His mom could still convince him to sit down and finish a bottle of wine with her, but he always felt like shit the next morning.

His mind veered from that particular track when the movie started and Billy moved to lean against Teddy’s side, his head resting gently on a broad shoulder. Teddy watched from the corner of his eye as the young man settled beside him, lifting the mask off his face with a relieved sigh. Quickly, Teddy took a swig of his beer as he felt his cheeks heat up. Billy was so close it was nearly unbearable and Teddy could feel every shift of movement as the other settled to a comfortable position.

Teddy was sure that his heart was thundering loud enough for Billy to hear, with his head nestled into the crook of his shoulder, but brown eyes were reflecting the opening scenes of the movie, completely absorbed. Making an attempt to focus on the film instead of the warmth of the body beside him, Teddy nursed his beer and risked moving his arm from the back of the loveseat to a bent position which allowed him to rest the back of his hand against Billy’s shoulder. He could feel the edge of a tremor run through the other, but nothing more, and they sat in companionable silence through the first few scenes.

Glancing around, he surveyed the other movie-watchers in the room, careful not to shift anything more than his eyes lest he disturb Billy with his movements. There was a group of girls gathered on one of the other couches, huddled on the middle cushion with their hands gripping a blanket, ready to scream or hide at any given moment. A tangle of young people on the floor were pointing out all the flaws and guffawing at anything they deemed remotely 'cheesy.' Somewhere to his left, even more hidden in the shadows than the loveseat currently occupied by Billy and himself, were the distinct sounds of a couple making out.

Teddy flushed and refocused on the movie, distinctly _not_ thinking that he wanted to know what it would be like to kiss Billy, and hold Billy, and do… _other things_ with Billy. His face was probably a thousand shades of pink, but in the dim lighting, Teddy was fairly certain no one could see it.

He felt Billy shift his weight again and Teddy glanced down--and immediately wished that he hadn’t. The change of position had been due to Billy reaching for another drink among their stash, which they’d deposited just on the other side of Teddy’s legs in order to deter any eager thieves. In order to access one of the bottles, Billy had altered his position from head-on-shoulder to sprawled-across-lap, which was doing nothing to help the stir of heat that jolted from Teddy’s cheeks to his groin. Teddy quickly cleared his throat and adjusted the position of his legs beneath the weight of Billy’s chest, trying desperately _not_ to stare at the ass that was wriggling about under red spandex as lithe fingers finally snagged a bottle and sat back up in a hurry.

“Sorry,” Billy whispered, all contact gone save for his knees lightly touching Teddy’s thigh. “I was trying not to distract you from the movie.”

“I sensed a disturbance in the Force,” Teddy replied, trying hard not to think about how badly distracted he had been, and still was.

Billy smiled at him, his lips quirked in a subtle arc, and Teddy felt his brain and any logical thoughts floating away as he leaned forward. Somewhere along the way, he abandoned his empty beer bottle, watching chestnut orbs for any hints or visual cues that leaned one way or another. Billy’s eyes widened slightly, then relaxed as a flush colored his pale cheeks. Teddy let his hand rest along the curve of the other’s jaw, thumb gently brushing along heated skin, stopping just over the pout of Billy’s lower lip. He had been too busy watching the movements of his own hand, so Teddy forced his eyes back up to meet Billy’s.

He felt his stomach flutter and knew at some point he would have to figure out how breathing was supposed to work. Billy’s eyes were half-lidded, watching Teddy expectantly with such a mess of emotion and want that Teddy felt torn between hedging his bets and kissing the other silly, or dragging him off to find the nearest bedroom.

Somehow, he managed to get enough blood to his brain to start speaking real words again. “May I?”

The flush in Billy’s face darkened before he gave the slightest nod. That was all the permission Teddy needed before he closed the small gap between them, shifting his thumb to Billy’s chin before softly pressing his lips against the other’s. Billy’s lips were soft, heated by the blush that was crawling to the tips of his ears by then, and they tasted overly-sweet from the strawberry-mango cooler still clutched in lithe fingers. Teddy moved his hand from Billy’s chin to his jaw and around to the back of his neck, his other palm resting gently on a spider-web thigh for leverage. He could feel Billy relax under the light touch and he pressed the pads of his fingers gently through dark hair, which created a chain reaction Teddy hadn’t been expecting.

First, Billy’s lips parted slightly, enough to issue what could only be called a soft moan, and the resulting shudder through Teddy’s spine went right to the heat building between his legs. Teddy leaned into the kiss, gingerly running his tongue across Billy’s lower lip before deepening their contact, his hand sliding up Billy’s thigh in the process. Second, a scream blasted from the speakers to the right of his ear and echoed around the room, startling the pair on the loveseat and causing Billy to jump. The movement caused the drink in Billy’s hands to jump as well, and since the student hadn’t had a chance to do more than open it prior to their current activities, the sweet, sticky liquid splashed across both Billy’s chest and Teddy’s groin.

“Shit,” Teddy hissed, as he broke away reluctantly, his cheeks flaring red and hot while he dug around beside the couch for the handful of napkins they’d grabbed. He offered them to Billy with an apologetic smile, catching his eyes for a second before the other looked away to swipe at the front of his costume. “Sorry, I’m going to just run to the washroom to clean up. I know you said no breaks but… Kate might murder me if I stain this thing.”

Billy looked up, a half-smile on his swollen lips. “I think this might count as an emergency, possibly the catastrophic variety.”

“I’ll be right back,” Teddy promised, resisting the urge to lean forward with another kiss and darting to the bathroom instead. He was pretty sure that Kate wouldn’t kill him, but he might get a few smacks if he ruined the costume she worked so hard to find for him.

Once inside the washroom, he flicked on the light and was assaulted by the stinging brightness of fluorescent bulbs. Taking a moment to let his eyes adjust, he hurried to the stack of paper towels and surveyed the damage to his crotch. It wasn’t so bad, the material was dark enough so it didn’t appear there would be a stain--the majority of the damage came from the fact that he was now both sticky and damp to the touch in that particular region (which he didn’t want anyone else in the group to discover or he would never live down the jokes). Teddy dampened a few paper towels and swiped at the material, cleaning up the majority of the mess before trying to absorb some of the moisture with a few dry sheets. After ten or so minutes of fussing, he gave up on being remotely comfortable for the rest of the evening, or at least until his pants dried, and left the bathroom to re-join Billy on the couch.

Unfortunately, Billy was no longer the sole occupant of the loveseat.

His attention was diverted from the movie during what appeared to be a pinnacle scene (there was an awful lot of running and screaming), something that created Teddy’s initial irritation since whoever this was had enough interest to pull Billy from his favorite film. The other denizen of the couch was wearing what Teddy could only describe as the creepiest mask he had ever seen. It wasn’t grotesque or bloody, but the dark sunken eyes and the elongated beak were more than enough to send a shudder down Teddy’s spine. When he approached the couch, he did so quietly so he could hear the tail end of what appeared to be a debate on the merits of 'Halloween.'

“No, the remake was definitely better. They cut out all the cheesy mumbo-jumbo and stuck to Michael’s backstory, which was WAY more interesting.”

Billy snorted, catching a glimpse of Teddy’s approach out of the corner of his eye and offering him a smile before going back to the conversation. “Yeah right. Maybe if you like gorey splatter-fests.”

“Hey, nothing wrong with a good murder-by-numbers.”

Teddy settled his folded arms on the back of the couch, leaning down and being sure to place a quick peck on the corner of Billy’s mouth before speaking. He was pleased to see that Billy immediately flubbed whatever he was going to say and turned red before taking a sip of his drink. “Hey. Ted Altman,” he offered, extending a hand to the stranger.

“John,” the plague doctor replied, extending a gloved hand and returning the shake with a firm grip. “I was just telling Billy here that his taste in movies is crap.”

“Says the man who thinks the best horror movie ever made was ‘Drag Me To Hell.’” There was a rather obvious roll of Billy’s eyes before the masked creep snorted.

“Sure, sure. I gotta get back to work, anyway.” John stood, straightening his garb and adjusting the mask beneath his hood before moving away from the couch. “See you later, Billy. Come check out the haunted house. If it doesn’t scare the shit outta ya, you get your money back.”

Teddy kept a close watch on the ‘doctor’ as he moved around the side of the couch, offering a friendly wave to Billy before pausing at Teddy’s side. “See you soon, _Detective_.”

The words were hissed so quietly, at the exact point in the movie when another scream erupted, so Teddy wasn’t entirely sure if he’d heard right. But ‘John’ was gone before he could blink, and with Billy’s attention turned back to the screen, no one had seen or heard the exchange but Teddy.

~~~~~~

Billy had been so startled by the second kiss, which was possessive, quick, and had clearly been a point of saying ‘mine,’ he stumbled over the words floundering in his skull for quite some time. His validity of movie choices coming into question was enough to shake his mind alert again, and Billy quipped back easily with the stranger who had sidled up to Teddy’s empty seat almost the moment the blond had vanished. For a few moments Billy had wondered about his intentions, especially since he wouldn’t remove the mask and introduced himself as ‘John’ (a name that still made him feel sick with fear to this day), but the masked man appeared to just want a conversation.

So why had Teddy completely locked up when the plague doctor passed him by?

It took a few moments of Billy watching him for the blond to come back to reality, his thoughts spooling behind blue eyes while he processed whatever had just transpired between the two. Teddy caught Billy’s gaze and smiled, though it didn’t lift to those ocean pools, and Billy was frowning by the time the other sat back down.

“You okay?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Sorry I just thought I knew that guy from somewhere…”

“Me too, actually.”

Teddy’s expression became a bit less stoic android and a little more lifeless ghoul before he turned his eyes to Billy quizzically. “Really?”

“Yeah, from way back in high school. But I’ll leave that sordid tale for another time, you should really watch this scene.”

And all conversation was abandoned in favor of watching the Nancy calling out for Freddy in the haunted stillness of her dream scape. Billy sat in silence, casting sidelong glances in Teddy’s direction, though he kept minimal contact since everything seemed to have fizzled between them after the run-in with John. He wasn’t entirely sure what kind of relationship the two may have had, since Teddy didn’t say how he may have known the strange doctor, Billy let his thoughts reel from one conclusion to another.

_Maybe they had been friends that had a falling out?_

_Maybe they were co-workers who hated each other?_

Or maybe they had been something more than all of that, something intimate. That thought set Billy’s cheeks aflame and his stomach dropped low in his gut. Sure, he hadn’t expected that Teddy would have been completely anti-social and celibate for all these years, but for some reason he hadn’t thought about what the blond’s past relationships may have been. Thinking about that ‘what-might-have-beens’ with Teddy’s ex(s) made Billy uneasy, and he spent the remainder of the film sitting with his knees up to his chest, worrying the label on his cooler bottle and ignoring the growing pile of empties between them.

~~~~~~

_Holy shit._

_Holy shit._

_Holy shit._

There were a thousand people who knew he was a detective in training, anyone on the force or even a friend of a friend would have known. But only one person would have said it with that tone, the snide attitude rolling through the few words they’d exchanged. Teddy knew that Thomas had been almost everywhere he had been in the last few days, but he still couldn’t pin down what exactly the young man wanted.

Teddy’s mind was racing, trying to track down all of the places that Thomas may have disappeared to in the house, but if he really was a speedster (and all signs pointed to a resounding positive answer on that one) he could be halfway out of town by now. After weighing his options, and realizing it would be pointless to take off and try and find a young man who obviously didn’t want to be found, Teddy replied to Billy’s query and re-joined him on the couch.

His thoughts were still wrapped around the plague doctor and why he would choose now to show himself before they circled back to the events _prior_ to the odd introduction. Teddy felt his face flush and he glanced at Billy out of the corner of his eye, his heart sinking. Billy’s legs were drawn to his chest, arms wrapped around them and chin resting atop knobbly knees, his whole position giving closed off vibes.

_I’m an idiot._

Inwardly, Teddy groaned, and refocused his attention on watching the scene playing out on the far wall while scrabbling to open another beer. Whatever chemistry had been between them had dissolved after Teddy vanished into his thoughts, and though he wanted to pick up where they left off, Billy’s pose stated that he decidedly did not.

Spending the rest of the movie in a half-daze, not absorbing anything happening on-screen and simply rolling over the thoughts pouring through his mind, Teddy finished two more beers before he even realized. It wasn’t until Billy was peering at him, brows raised slightly, that Teddy processed the other was speaking.

“Oh, sorry. What was that?” he asked, over-analyzing his words for any possible slurring.

Billy just smiled at him, cheeks flushed pink (an after-effect of the nearly empty cooler in his hands). “I was asking if you wanted to check out that haunted house? I make no promises regarding the volume of my screaming, however.”

Laughing, Teddy slowly picked himself up off the couch, testing his legs for stability before attempting to walk anywhere. “Sure. I’m going to warn you, I’m a bit tipsy. So if you hear a twelve-year old girl screaming… She probably snuck in.”

The brunette stood as well, almost tumbling over a few of the empties on the floor, before he stooped to clean up their mess. Teddy crouched down to help, though the world spun a few times around him. His fingers brushed against Billy’s lithe digits as they both reached for the same bottle, and Teddy glanced up just in time to see Billy watching him before his dark eyes darted away again.

“Hey…” Teddy whispered, gently grasping a pointed chin between his thumb and fingers. He pressed his thumb softly against the divot there, brushing over the shape beneath Billy’s lower lip a few times before catching his eyes. “I’m sorry. Whatever I did, I’m really, _really_ sorry. If I was moving too fast or…” _If you just don’t like me in that way_.

“Idiot,” Billy scoffed, lifting eyes that were a shade of dark toffee in the dim lighting, and stared at the blond with a look that made Teddy’s heart flutter rapidly.

The detective closed the distance between them, his hold on Billy’s chin turning to a stroke across his cheek so fingers could tangle in espresso strands at the base of his neck. Teddy pressed their lips together with a desperation, an urgency that surprised him. Behind it were all the words he couldn’t say, the ones he was too afraid to let slip out. _Don’t go. I need this. I need you_.

_I love you._

~~~~~~

Feeling bolder, now that there wasn’t a drink between them for him to ruin the moment with, Billy reached his hands out to ghost along the other’s sides. He felt Teddy tense and shudder beneath his fingertips, and the sound of something almost feral rippled past the blond’s lips. Billy’s blood thundered in his ears before rushing quickly south, his thoughts hazy as he pressed close to the strong lines of Teddy’s body. Through the thick material of the costume, Billy could feel the shape of muscles clearly defined, the kind of defined that you got through hours at the gym and obscene amounts of protein intake. His thoughts trailed off into dangerous waters, and Billy let a quiet groan slide through his lips. That seemed to be enough encouragement for Teddy, who quickly wound his free arm around Billy’s waist and pulled him close against his chest.

Billy made a contented noise as Teddy pressed his tongue past parted lips, caressing the roof of Billy’s mouth before vying for attention. He knew that he was clutching almost desperately at the fabric around Teddy’s shoulders, pressing himself up against the broad chest. Billy squirmed, feeling his thigh brush over the hard length of Teddy’s erection, and his own half-hard cock twitched in response.

There was a moment of clarity, when Billy heard the trailing notes at the end of the credits, where he realized if they didn’t stop now it was going to lead to a whole lot more than he was sure he could deal with. Yes, Teddy was sweet and gorgeous and seemed to care about him (and who was he kidding, he would jump his bones in three point five seconds flat should they not be surrounded by strangers) but Billy didn’t want to rush this. This was the one time he didn’t want to go charging forward without thinking of consequences, grasping at the threads of what may or may not have been as it all fell down in tatters around him.

He pulled away, noting the discouraged little whine Teddy made (filing that one away under ‘adorable noises that could get me in trouble’) and the slight pout that made his lower lip jut out ever so slightly. Billy leaned forward again just enough to envelop Teddy’s lower lip with a kiss, giving it a quick nip before backing off again.

“Sorry, can we take a rain check on this? I’m not much of an exhibitionist…” He could feel his cheeks heating up, and saw Teddy’s flash a quick shade of pink before he looked away and coughed.

“Oh, yeah… Um, sorry. I got a little… carried away,” the blond whispered, glancing around the room now to see how many people had been witness to what he had imagined was a very private session. The room was still dark, and the last few screens of credits rolled by before the intro to the next movie started. There was only one couple still in the room at the moment, and he was certain they hadn’t noticed anything by the sounds coming from the direction of their couch.

Billy followed his line of sight and flushed bright red. “Okay, so haunted house?” he squeaked, berating himself for standing so quickly as he wavered and had to brace himself against Teddy’s shoulder. Taking a few slow breaths, he managed to make the world stop spinning, and realized that he hadn’t heard an answer. “Teddy?”

The blond’s eyes were lowered, but there was the distinct hint of a rosy flush gracing the tips of his metal-studded ears. Billy wondered what he had said before looking at the position he had stumbled into--his crotch was precariously close Teddy’s face, and the Spider Man jumpsuit didn’t do anything to hide the half-mast bulge. Moving away and turning to face the opposite wall, Billy was fairly certain that he would spontaneously combust at any given moment. He was sure that Teddy had been in the same condition, at least he didn’t think he imagined that, but what if he got upset or thought Billy had been pressuring him to…

“So, how about that haunted house?” Teddy offered, his voice soft and his hands gentle as they wound their way about Billy’s waist.

Billy relaxed, unaware of how taut his body had been seconds before, and he nodded. “Yeah, I think that’s probably a good idea.”

~~~~~~

“This might not have been a good idea…” Teddy murmured, feeling wary while placing his next footstep in the pitch black of the haunted ‘house.’ His legs still felt unsteady and he could feel Billy sway against him in the dark, the after-effects of their indulgence catching up quick.

“Totally a good idea,” Billy insisted, winding his arm around Teddy’s and leaning into his side. His fingers trailed idly along the curl of Teddy’s bicep, though there was a nervous stilling every time something ‘whooshed’ by or if a noise came a little too close.

There had been nothing in the haunted house so far but a dark hallway, jets of air gusting by them and slippery strips of _something_ hanging from the ceiling and brushing against faces and limbs. Teddy had his eyes peeled for anything that might resemble Thomas, since the youth had said he would be working here (though that could have been part of the lie). While he was peering into the inky blackness, a mechanical skeleton popped towards Billy, causing lithe fingers to dig hard into the bulk of Teddy’s arm and a shriek to echo from Billy’s lips.

Teddy tried to pull his limb away from the vice-grip of Billy’s arms, but the other was having none of it, tugging the blond closer to himself. Heaving a sigh, Teddy pressed his lips against the shell of Billy’s ear. “You owe me a new comic issue every time you scream, scaredy-cat.”

“D-deal,” he stuttered in reply, taking a deep breath to steady himself into the next room. “Same goes for you.”

“Deal,” Teddy whispered as they approached the next room. He felt his stomach drop the second they stepped inside, more from the disorienting nature of the way shapes were twisting and lurching in the mirrors than from the room itself. It was similar to a traditional ‘mirror maze’ room, though there had to be several projectors littered around, sending spiraling patterns or flickering shadows across and around the panes of glass. Even the floor looked as though it was tilting, which made Teddy feel nauseous, so he kept his eyes on the mirrors and tried to focus on Billy chattering at his side.

Parts of the swirling shadows reminded Teddy of a different room, at a different time, with a very different kind of person at his side. The memories came back, taunting him, and the familiar, jeering voice echoed through his skull.

_Don’t be such a fucking pussy, Altman._

Pausing in front of a mirrored corridor, Teddy swore he saw a human-sized shape at the end, though it could have been a trick of either the light or his own mind. The bulk of those shoulders, the thick stretch of arms, and the mop of tangled dark hair made his stomach twist and turn. It couldn’t be, not here, not now when things were so good. Billy tugged him down the long hallway, unaware of the form at the other end and the effect it was having on Teddy at his side. When they reached the end of the path, part of the terror that had been rising as bile in his throat left him, as Teddy saw only his own distorted reflection staring back.

A scream echoed through from the next room, and Billy flinched visibly at his side, nails digging back into the material of Teddy’s sleeve. He shoved the toxic thoughts away, it wasn’t the place for them now, and tried hard not to catch his own reflection staring back at him--he wasn’t too sure he could face this Teddy Altman, the one he had worked so hard to become.

The one he had changed himself into, for someone else, for another life.

~~~~~~

Billy could sense the unease rolling through his companion in waves, but Teddy’s face never betrayed the taut nature of his muscles for more than a millisecond. His wavering steps were enough to keep his attention on where he put his next footfall instead of watching the other’s features, but Billy couldn’t help but wonder what was going on behind those murky blue orbs. He was quickly coming to the conclusion that Teddy was one of those guys who didn’t share without a whole lot of prompting and a very good reason.

So instead of asking about the sudden change in demeanor, Billy re-focused on getting them both through the current room in one piece. Minus a few ghostly figures appearing in some of the mirrors, which elicited two more screeches from Billy, they made it through the room relatively unscathed. The next area was pitch black, minus a few small lights flickering along the walkway. Billy could feel the shudder run along his spine and he clung closer to Teddy’s arm, forcing his legs to move forward through the room that could hold anything.

“G-good thing neither of us is afraid of the dark, huh…?” Billy whispered, glancing over to try and get a look at Teddy’s face. He could only make out the vague outline of his golden hair, his features hidden in the dark.

“Yeah…” Came the soft reply and Teddy tensed at his side.

This time, there was definitely something moving around at the end of the corridor, just barely outlined against the brick wall. It was swaying back and forth, feet only just brushing the floorboards beneath them.

“Is it too late to turn back?” Billy asked, leaning over to whisper into Teddy’s ear. Teddy shivered but he wasn’t sure if it was fear or the feel of his breath that caused it.

“Probably,” the blond replied, placing his hand gingerly over Billy’s clutched against his arm as they headed down the length of the hall.

The hallway was different from the last few rooms, with no movement or sounds around them. Billy was certain the scream he heard earlier had come from this corridor, but he didn’t want to know why. The only exit appeared to be past the figure lurking a few feet away, and Billy could make out the shape of the rope around its neck, hear the slither-scrape of shoes on wooden flooring. They were nearly to the end when the breeze rifled past, causing something to brush along their shoulders before the body hanging before them started rocking violently from side to side.

Billy screamed, his throat starting to feel raw from all of it, and he could hear the harsh intake of breath from Teddy at his side. They both shuffled around the body, slowly moving towards the exit, Billy holding tight to Teddy’s arm and burying his face in a steady shoulder. He could feel the blond’s heart racing just beneath the surface, but Teddy showed nothing to betray himself. Billy chanced a glance back and immediately wished he hadn’t.

The hanging man had turned to follow them as they left the room and his head which had previously been obscured was now tilted back at an extreme angle, revealing the sunken holes where eyes, a nose, and teeth had been. Billy felt another scream about to burst forward, but the idea of owing Teddy five whole issues instead of the zero Teddy owed him was unreasonable, so he bit the inside of his lip hard and all but ran out the door.

The pair stumbled outside, the gasping breaths of fresh air doing wonders for the pulse thundering behind Billy’s eyes. Doubled over, he glanced over to catch Teddy looking back into the trailer, his brow furrowed and his face holding a sour expression.

“Hey, are you okay…?” Billy whispered, gently settling his hand against Teddy’s, which was clenched into a fist at his side.

Teddy seemed to startle back to reality, all signs of any unpleasantness gone from his features and replaced with a placid smile. “Sorry, yeah. I’m just a bit spooked is all.”

Though Billy didn’t exactly buy that as an excuse, he let it slide. The last thing he wanted after that experience was to bring up anything unpleasant. “Okay, so I might owe you like… two comics.”

That brought a smirk to Teddy’s lips, and this time, it threw a spark of mirth through his eyes. “Oh no, you owe me four issues, five if you count that last mouth-scream.”

“What! No way, at least one of those was yours,” he insisted, wrinkling his nose in an attempt to look offended as they wandered across the back lawn. There weren’t many people out here, those brave enough to try the haunted house were crowded around the entrance, and those who came out presumably darted as quickly as possible back into the noise of the party.

“You wish, Kaplan,” Teddy taunted, giving Billy’s hand a quick squeeze as they approached the back door. Crowded on one end of the patio was a small group, their voices floating across the empty yard.

“Shit, shit, shit I’m _really_ sorry!”

“It’s fine. It’s not broken.”

“But all that _blood_ …”

“Cassie, please stop freaking out. You’re not helping.”

“But…”

Billy could hear the tension in their tone running dangerously high, and he nudged Teddy’s side with his elbow before motioning towards them. “Should we go help?”

“You just want to know what’s going on,” the blond replied, though he was smiling and Billy could almost see all the tension leaving his shoulders the further they got from that damn trailer. Something in there had spooked the detective, and though Billy couldn’t determine what might have created such a startling change in attitude, things seemed to be going well enough now so he brushed it off.

“True. Cassie, what the hell did you do?” Billy hollered as he jogged towards the huddle, Teddy not far behind him.

~~~~~~

Eli’s hands were cupped around his nose, the hem of his robe held between them to staunch the flow of blood. His head was tipped back and Cassie was flitting around him, echoing apologies and gnawing on her lower lip. Kate was standing nearby with a first aid kit, though it didn’t appear it would really be necessary, so she loitered by the sidelines and tried to get Cassie to calm down.

“Blood and carnage already, huh? Starting early this year?” Billy offered, approaching the trio with a smile on his face. His mask had been jammed into one of the suit’s pockets, hanging off his hip, since he just kept taking it off anyway.

“Billy!” Cassie squawked, waving him over before returning her attention to Eli.

“Everything okay?” Teddy asked, approaching Kate while Billy went to discuss the haunted house with the others.

Kate shrugged, flipping her dark braid back over a shoulder before leaning against the short, stone wall surrounding the patio. “Yeah. Cassie completely freaked at that last part when the guy jumps out at you, and she somehow managed to punch Eli in the face in the process.”

Stifling a snort, he glanced towards the trio of students who seemed considerably calmer now that Billy and Cassie were recounting their adventures in the hell house with elaborate arm gestures. “I can see how that might happen. I think we missed that last guy though,” Teddy offered, sitting down on the edge of the wall. “No one jumped out at us.”

“Huh…” she mumbled, watching the others though her eyes were far away, thinking through a puzzle. “Maybe he went out for a smoke break or something.”

“Yeah, a real quick one,” he lowered his voice when he answered, so only Kate could hear him. Her eyes snapped to his and he nodded, everything they needed to discuss easy to do without words.

Dark brows furrowed into a tight knit, and she looked away again, speaking as casually as possible. “But why here?”

“I think he’s following me.”

“Following you?”

“Think about it, everywhere I go he’s right there three steps ahead. I don’t think there’s any malicious intent, but he definitely doesn’t want us on this case.”

She went quiet, and Teddy could almost hear the hum of her mind working through an array of possibilities. After a few moments of silence, she shook her head. “Can we re-think this in the morning? When I’ve got less alcohol in my system?” she offered, grinning at him.

“Sounds good. I don’t know about you, but I need another drink after that damn spook house.”

“Awwww, did Teddy-weddy get a wittle scared?”

“Shut up,” he teased back, nudging her with his shoulder before standing. “Billy, you want another drink? Kate and I are heading in.”

“What’re me an’ Eli, chopped liver?” Cassie shouted back, sticking out her tongue and jutting her hands onto her hips, a motion that nearly got an elbow into Eli’s side. He backed up a bit and shook his head, though there was the faint twist of a smile on the corner of his lips.

“Nah, you guys just aren’t as hot as me,” Billy called before darting to Teddy’s side and linking arms with him. Kate shot a knowing look in the blond man’s direction and he narrowed his eyes in response, knowing she was going to want all the details the moment they were alone.

“Fine then!” Cassie complained, linking arms with Teddy’s available limb. “Shots for everyone!”

“Hey now…” Kate protested weakly before Cassie snagged her arm too and dragged her into the chain. Eli looked about ready to argue but Kate offered the crook of her elbow to him and he relented, the group of five stumbling awkwardly into the house while Cassie and Billy were chanting ‘SHOTS, SHOTS, SHOTS!’

This sounded like a really bad idea.

~~~~~~

“Fuck…” Teddy growled, attempting to shield his eyes from the sunlight by dragging the cluster of pillows over his head. The sheets felt strange, too soft against his skin to be the Wal-Mart set that currently decked out his bed at home, which meant he wasn’t at home. He sat up in a shot and immediately regretted it, the world spinning and his stomach lurching from the unwelcome movement. Settling back down against the blankets--an amalgamation of cream and rose tones, _definitely_ not his--he tried to piece together the events from last night.

There had been a party. It was at Kate’s, so he assumed that was where he was now. The room was definitely feminine, and he couldn’t think of anywhere else he could have wound up. The party began well enough, though he hazily remembered several empty beer bottles that also started off the night. Those would be partial culprits to this headache he was currently facing.

Billy had been there, he remembered the first few awkward moments followed by the movie and the incidents therein. He could feel his cheeks flush and he tousled a hand through his hair, the golden twists tangled and messy.

Tommy was also there, though that part was a little fuzzy around the edges. He remembered something about the brief conversation they’d had before the haunted house, and his stomach rolled at the memories of that so he quickly moved on with his cataloging of events.

And then there were shots--things got real hazy at that point, but he clearly remembered the gorgeous pair of chestnut eyes, then the feel of soft lips and sharp angled hips through fabric and…

_Oh shit._

Teddy felt his stomach sinking slowly as the questions poured through his aching skull. There was no sign of Billy in the rumpled blankets and Teddy couldn’t spot any of the other’s belongings in the room, so they were probably safe. At some point, he had wriggled his way out of his Captain America costume, but it was folded neatly on a nearby chair instead of piled on the carpet as he would have most likely left it the night before. That meant that someone had been in the room, someone who was coherent enough to fold things nicely.

It was at that point he noticed the neatly folded note on the bedside table, alongside a sealed bottle of water and a tiny packet of ibuprofen. He recognized the looping scrawl of his name as Kate’s handwriting, and he cracked open the water to take a few tentative sips while he perched on the edge of the bed and read through the note.

_Morning Sleepy-Head,_

_I’m sure you’ve already noticed, but you’re probably hung over. I remembered what happened last time you felt like that, and bearing a no-repeat clause I signed, I left you with drugs and water. There’s breakfast and company downstairs. Cassie, Billy, and myself spent the night. Don’t worry, I didn’t let you do anything too stupid (though I do have some good blackmail now, thanks!). Eli and I hauled your drunk ass to bed last night, so you owe us._

_Come downstairs when you’re presentable. There’s clothes that will fit you in the dresser._

_\--K._

Teddy chuckled and ripped into the foil packet, downing the two pills with a quick sip of water before forcing his body to a standing position and heading to the dresser. His arms felt like they were made of lead as he pulled open the top drawer, seeing an array of ‘Kate-approved’ tee shirts as well as a few pairs of jeans and socks. He rolled his eyes before pulling out a pair of dark-wash jeans that he knew would fit perfectly, despite the fact that these miraculously-fitting clothes were always just ‘lying around.’ Tugging on a deep green tee with a splash of gold in an abstract pattern across the front, he opted against socks before padding to the door.

His hand hesitated on the handle, hearing the lull of voices from downstairs. They were speaking too softly for him to make out who they belonged to, but Kate had mentioned in her note that Billy had also spent the night. Was he downstairs right now? Or was he in another bedroom, fast asleep with the sheets tangled around his pale limbs, slinking low on hips…

Okay, that was a dangerous train of thought. Teddy shook his head to clear it before heading into the hallway and down the back staircase, which led directly into the kitchen/dining area. Cassie and Kate were already up, huddled around something on Kate’s tablet and giggling.

“Awwww, he looks so cute when he’s sleeping!”

“Like a teddy bear.”

“Yeah!”

They broke into another fit of girlish squeals before Kate glanced his way, her mouth moving into a lopsided grin.

“Morning Starshine.”

“The Earth most definitely says where is the coffee,” Teddy grumbled, ambling towards the counter and gladly scooping the offered mug from Kate’s hands. He wrapped his hands around the warmth and took a sip of the concoction, just enough milk and sugar dampening the bitter taste. “Thank you. And what were you two laughing about?”

“Oh, nothing,” Kate replied easily, sliding the lock back into place on her screen. “Did you want some breakfast?”

The thought of food sent his stomach rolling again, and Teddy shook his head. “Maybe just some toast. How… much did I drink last night?” he asked, wary of the answer.

“Hmm… I lost count North of six shots.”

Kate busied herself in the kitchen while Teddy groaned and buried his face in his hand. “I didn’t do anything _too_ embarrassing, did I?”

Wisely, his dark-haired companion chose to ignore him, though Cassie was bubbling with laughter at his side. “Oh, nothing too bad. _Billy_ on the other hand…”

“Cassie, you promised you wouldn’t share that,” Kate reminded, though her voice didn’t hold the stern tone it usually did in a warning. She popped several pieces of toast into the toaster before checking on something in the oven.

“It was a drunk promise, totally doesn’t count!” the blonde replied, chuckling and setting down her enormous mug of tea before she spilled it. “So we had to take Billy up to bed first, he was totally gone and was clinging to you like he would drown if he let go.” Either Cassie didn’t notice, or chose to ignore, the rapid flush that filled Teddy’s cheeks. She continued, “And then when we were finally able to get him on his way up the stairs he started whining ‘ _Teddy! I want to sleep with Teddyyyyy~!’_ ” Cassie yodeled, causing a rioting stream of giggles to slip past Kate’s lips before she got herself under control.

Teddy was pretty sure his face was on fire, and he kind of wanted the tile beneath his chair to open up and swallow him whole. He was glad that Billy wasn’t here to witness the reenactment, though he heard a groggy noise at the bottom of the stairs a few minutes later, after Kate had pulled some kind of a breakfast casserole from the oven and piled a plate high with toast.

“Billy!” Cassie shrieked, bounding off the bar stool she had been sitting on and darting to the young man at the bottom of the stairs. She received another growl-like response as she wrapped her arms around him.

Billy stood at the base of the stairwell with his hand shielding his eyes, which were barely open enough to see the color of his irises. If he was half as hung over as he looked, the student was having a rough start to the morning. Teddy got up to busy himself with pouring a mug of coffee for the lanky man, mostly so he didn’t focus on the lean muscles of Billy’s legs that were barely covered by an oversized tee shirt and a pair of obnoxiously bright boxer-briefs.

While he was waiting on a fresh pot, apparently Kate had given him the last of it, she sidled over to him and nudged at his shoulder. Her voice was low when she spoke, so the pair slowly making their way back to the breakfast bar wouldn’t hear. “So, I checked in with ScreamFest, the company that puts those haunted trailers together. They didn’t have a Thomas in their hiring records.”

“Call them back and check for a ‘John.’ That’s who he introduced himself as to Billy and me,” Teddy replied, his own voice just as quiet. He glanced over his shoulder to see Billy’s upper half sprawled across the countertop of the bar, murmuring something incoherent to Cassie.

Kate followed his line of sight with a smile, prodding him again, her elbow needling between his ribs. “Go sit. Relax. I’ll call them again this afternoon, since I assume you’re going to find some way to sneak into the office on a Sunday anyway.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Teddy feigned innocence but gave Kate a soft smile, the warmth crinkling the corners of his eyes before he moved to the pair sitting at the bar. He pushed the mug against Billy’s hands, which were clasped together above his head, his pale face pressed against the counter in an attempt to ward away the light.

“Coffee?” the blond offered quietly, watching the twist of Billy’s fingers around the mug and the slow movement as he worked his way to a proper sitting position.

Billy blinked owlishly at him for a few moments before his brain caught up with what was happening and a light flush covered his features. “T-thank you…” he mumbled, sipping slowly at his coffee with his head down, dark hair tumbling to hide his eyes and some of the blush that was working its way down his neck. Teddy tried not to focus too much on the gentle dip of Billy’s collarbone, just visible in the too-big collar of the shirt, instead sipping at his own coffee and taking a seat on the opposite side of the counter.

“No problem.”

“I hope you guys are hungry.” Kate approached the table with the casserole and toast, and although Teddy’s stomach had been rioting only moments before, the smell of greasy diner breakfast made a growl of hunger echo through the kitchen. He managed to get the embarrassed flush off his face before anyone noticed but he could see Billy smirking into his coffee mug. He kicked him beneath the breakfast bar.

“I’m hungry!” Cassie yelled, bursting through the silence and Teddy’s eardrums at the same time. She quickly scooped a large portion of the casserole onto her plate before snagging two pieces of toast--Teddy wasn’t quite sure where she was planning to put that all, but he suspected she might have a hollow leg.

Billy silently snagged a piece of toast, nibbling experimentally on a corner of it while he nursed his coffee. Kate placed a heaping plate in front of Teddy, and though he protested, he did eat the entire thing. Cassie and Kate were chattering about some new shop that had opened up in the mall when Billy finally looked up from his mug.

Teddy caught his gaze across the table and smiled, feeling the tension flow out of him when Billy responded with a half-shy smirk. Stretching his leg under the table, he brushed Billy’s shin with his toes, and the dark-haired young man smiled a little broader, catching his lower lip between his teeth.

Knowing his own grin had to be getting a little goofy by this point, Teddy found he didn’t have it in him to care. Had they been alone at the table, he would have leaned across to kiss Billy senseless, but with the girls in the room he settled for running his foot against the side of the other’s calf while they exchanged somewhat-silly smiles.

Yeah, this might be a bad idea.

Or it might be a great idea.

But Teddy Altman was falling a little bit in love.


	4. Pardon Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What’s going on?” Billy shouted, tugging at the sleeve of Noam’s tee shirt to get his attention.
> 
> “No idea,” he replied, craning his neck and peering towards the bar. “Wait… Holy shit, is that _Thor_?”
> 
> The gears whirring in Billy’s skull shuddered to a momentary halt before starting up full steam again. There was no way that Thor would be anywhere near a club, at least not on his own, and the last media report out of Avengers HQ had stated that he returned to Asgard for a personal matter just a few days ago.
> 
> Not that Billy followed their Twitter or anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone for sticking with me through this! Now, before you get your pitchforks, I have to remind you this is only the fourth chapter of ten, so please don’t quit on me after you are through with this chapter. (That is all I’m saying on the subject, you will just have to read to find out what happens~)
> 
> My lovely beta-readers, Kuchen and Melerune, what on earth would I do without you~ <3 (Seriously, I owe you guys about a thousand cookies each for putting up with my simpering nonsense.)
> 
> [Please come visit me on tumblr! :)](http://amonaewrites.tumblr.com/) (I do mini-requests and such there.) 
> 
> Chapters will update on a regular basis, always the first weekend of every month. I have myself on a pretty strict writing schedule as part of my day-to-day, so the only time chapters will be late is if I’m ill or have other serious obligations.

**_“Pardon me for my lack of excitement,_ **

**_But I’m not entirely thrilled._ **

**_Stutter when I talk,_ **

**_Flail around as I walk,_ **

**_Yeah the moment’s been killed.”_ **

_Pardon Me by He Is We_

 

After breakfast, the group parted ways--Kate and Teddy returned to the office to try and scrape together what new information they had while Cassie convinced Billy that what his hangover really needed was some recovery shopping. That, and Cassie needed a new ‘hot date dress.’ Billy wasn’t entirely sure what constituted that particular style, but he knew that by the end of the day he would be an expert.

“Mission objectives include finding something flirty, but not too over-the-top sexy, with lots of color and probably a belt,” Cassie mumbled, peering into a window display. “Definitely a belt. Belts are in.”

“Belts are in,” Billy grumbled in auto-response, sipping at his Jamba Juice gingerly, hoping it wouldn’t give his stomach too much trouble. Until he woke up that morning Billy hadn't been aware of quite how much alcohol he had consumed, but his questionable stomach and pulsating headache was swift to remind him that it had been too much.

"What do you think about that one?" Cassie asked, pointing to a garish display of red and green ensembles. There were an awful lot of tassels and frills involved, and in the corner of the display was a fluffy green and white tree with branches drooping under the burden of neon-colored baubles.

Billy didn't have a whole lot of sense when it came to fashion, but he felt his lip curling into a frown. "Is that... A Christmas tree? Seriously? It's only November first!"

Laughing, she nudged him with her shoulder. "Bah, humbug! Says Scrooge."

"I'm not a Scrooge. Any exuberant displays of Christmas paraphernalia shall be delayed until at minimum Veterans Day, preferably Thanksgiving." Billy chose to settle himself against a support pillar while they picked apart the window display. The window was filled with false snowflakes and layers of tinsel, abstract enough to not directly be screaming ‘Merry Christmas’ but it was more than capable of making Billy irate. “Seriously, Halloween just ended. Give the other holidays some time to themselves.”

“You’d rather there be a bunch of paper turkeys on display?” Cassie offered, settling beside him and pointing to one of the masculine ensembles with her cell phone. “How about that? It’s not horrible.”

“Cassie, that is the ugliest sweater I have ever seen.”

“It’s awesome!”

“I know what you’re thinking, and no.”

“Awww, come on Billy!”

“Absolutely not. I don’t care how much blackmail you have on me, I’m not wearing that.”

“Ooo, what if it was an ugly Hanukkah sweater?”

“Yeah, still no.”

“Oh, really?”

Billy immediately regretted his previous transgression, and blamed the slip on his foggy brain and the lack a caffeine IV that he’d requested earlier in the morning. Of course Cassie would have plenty of blackmail material after last night; if he could barely remember how he’d gotten upstairs and into the spare bed (minus his costume) how was he supposed to know the extent to which he’d embarrassed himself in front of everyone. How much had he embarrassed himself in front of _Teddy_?

“You don’t have anything or you would have bragged about it by now,” he retorted, taking a gamble and sticking out his tongue at the blonde.

Cassie unlocked her phone with a quick swipe of her finger before pulling up her photo album. “Wanna bet?” She shoved the phone’s face towards Billy, and for a long time he wasn’t entirely sure what he was supposed to be looking at.

“Um… What’s that?” he jabbed a finger at the blur in the middle of the screen.

“That, my good friend, is you hanging onto Teddy and whining about going to bed!” she replied triumphantly, turning the screen a bit to get a better vantage. “See, that’s your arm, and that’s Teddy’s arm…. I think.”

Billy snorted, turning away from the picture and back to his smoothie. “You know, it would have been more convincing blackmail material as a video maybe.”

“I know,” she pouted, flipping through the other photos to try and find paydirt. “But I forgot how to put it on video in my, uh, state. Anyway! You totally owe me or I’ll tell Teddy all your secrets.”

“You don’t know all my secrets.”

“Well… I’ll tell him about that party in first year!”

“You weren’t even there.”

“Eli was.”

“Yeah, still not wearing the sweater.”

"Oh fine, mister Grinch."

"You think the dresses are ugly too, don't lie."

Cassie beamed, hauling him up from his place against the marble column before dragging him off to the other end of the mall. "Of course I do! It was a fashion test, obviously. To see if you are worthy to help me choose the perfect dress."

"Of course, a test," Billy teased with a shake of his head, allowing himself to be led through varying stores while he slowly tried to piece his brain back together. He knew that despite whatever had happened last night, he didn’t need to worry about Teddy--their interactions this morning had assured him of that. Feeling a flush building on his cheeks, he turned from Cassie rifling through the sale racks to rifle through some of the menswear. His fingers drifted over the soft material of a scarf, and he pulled it from the rack to get a better look. The fabric was a deep green, almost a mossy hue, and Billy couldn’t help but think how much it would suit Teddy. His cheeks flared all over again and he slung the garment over his arm, hoping to find Cassie and make their purchases before he changed his mind.

As he swiveled on his heel, intent on finding the tiny blonde somewhere among the aisles, Billy’s elbow connected with something. “Oh god, I’m really sorry!” he hissed, the woman already waving it off as nothing to be concerned about, her face in an easy smile.

“It’s alright, dear.” She appeared kind, her eyes crinkled around the edges when she smiled but Billy felt an unexplainable jolt of unease when she opened them fully. They were a bright, off-world kind of green, seeming to shift and pulse under his gaze.

Okay, maybe he was more hungover than he thought.

“Are you sure? I should have been paying attention to where I was going…” he muttered, crouching to retrieve a few items that had tumbled off a nearby table in the fray.

The woman helped him gather the misplaced bangles and sunglasses, their hands sweeping close only once, a bright blue spark leaping from the back of Billy’s hand to hers. His gaze shot up, an apology once again ready on his lips, but he could see there was a smile highlighting her features.

“You look so much like my son.” Her smile didn’t reach those strange green pools and Billy felt his stomach lurch into a nervous twist when their gazes locked. He quickly darted his glance away to gather the scarf from where he settled it on the table, focusing his energy on getting to a standing position and finding Cassie as soon as possible without making a further fool of himself.

“Oh, I’ve been told I have a doppelganger running around town somewhere,” he laughed, scanning the store quickly as the woman stood.

She rested a hand on Billy’s arm, no ill intent behind the gesture, though the contact sent a shiver of electricity coursing through his frame. Every fibre in his body wanted to tear away, but something in her eyes had him immobile, something building behind the bright shades of green. “If you happen to see him, he goes by ‘Tommy’ Shepherd these days, would you be a dear and let him know that his mother is looking for him? She’s awfully worried.”

Billy nodded his head sharply, grateful to see Cassie approaching over the woman’s shoulder. “Of course, ma’am. I’ll be sure to do that.”

“Thank you,” she replied, flashing another smile that sent ripples of unease through him before she took her leave.

Cassie held up two dresses as she drew closer, obviously torn between them. “What do you think, coral and bubbly or teal and sleek? Hey, are you okay?”

Once she was close enough to make out the pale lines of worry etched on Billy’s features, she slowed, and her cheery grin veered towards a concerned grimace. Billy took a moment to compose himself before he replied. “Oh, uh, yeah. I just think I’m a bit more hungover than I thought.”

She gave him a sympathetic look before her smile popped into place. “Tell you what, you help me decide between these two and we will go straight to your place, put in the stupidest nerd movie in your collection, and be lazy non-productive students for the rest of the day.”

Billy couldn’t help the grin that blossomed onto his lips, it was contagious around Cassie, despite how unnerved by the encounter he felt. “Coral. It’s pretty but without being overly-flashy, and it has that belt thing going on that you wanted. And my movie collection is awesome, thank you very much.”

“Awesomely nerdy,” she corrected, dumping the teal dress onto the nearest rack before flitting to the cashier at the rear of the store. Billy followed at a slower pace, keeping his eyes trained forward despite the burning sensation that someone was continuing to watch him.

He was getting awfully tired of hearing about this ‘ghost twin’ of his.

~~~~~~

Teddy was finishing his fourth cup of coffee and still wasn’t any closer to piecing together what the hell was going on with their case. The only thing he’d managed to accomplish was tearing apart every shred of evidence they had gathered so far--why Thomas may have run off, if there was any abuse happening at home or at school, the profiles on the parents--and rendering it all useless. Even Kate had gotten fed up with his rampaging through their gathered data, so she was currently on an extended lunch that may or may not include the remainder of Sunday afternoon. Not that he would blame her, no one wanted to be cooped up in a cramped office on what should have been their days off.

Raking a hand through his hair and letting the blond wisps tumble into wayward directions, he leaned back in his chair and stared at the water-stained ceiling. How could they possibly hope to make any progress with this file if they didn’t know what direction they were supposed to be running in?

Their supposed lead with the ScreamFest haunted trailers company had been a bust; apparently they were one of those seasonal groups that didn’t do a whole lot in terms of a background check before hiring on their employees for the month. There was no one in their hiring roster going by any variation of Thomas Shepherd, though there was a ‘John Doe.’ It took all of Teddy’s self-control not to cry out a string of curses while he still had the manager on the line, though Kate covered that base pretty thoroughly once he’d hung up. He would have expected Thomas to use a false name, but he hadn’t predicted such a direct jab at their efforts.

He was definitely, one hundred percent screwing with them.

A quiet tone echoed from across the room, coming from somewhere in the folds of Teddy’s jacket, which had been abandoned at the door the moment he got into the office. Convincing his legs that yes, they did still work, took some effort and by the time he reached his cell the ringing had stopped. The number that flashed on his display appeared only as ‘BLOCKED ID,’ sending the first of several red flags up in Teddy’s mind.

He keyed in his voicemail passcode before listening to the message, feet moving towards his desk before he had even gotten past the garbled introduction. Teddy snagged a pen and the nearest scrap of paper before beginning to jot down anything that could be parsed from the garbled sounds. There was a lot of noise in the background of the call, like someone was driving down the freeway with the windows down and the AC on full, so he could barely make out what was being said.

Teddy sat at his desk while he worked out the contents of the voicemail, hanging up his phone and plugging it into the computer tower so he was able to transfer the audio file over. When they first started with the case, Kate and Teddy had put posters up all over the University campus, and in a few surrounding businesses as well. Since they didn’t think the anonymous tip line would yield much for results (as most of the tips that came pouring in were intentionally counter-productive to a case), they had opted to put Teddy’s cell number on them instead with a request for information on a ‘missing friend.’ A technical grey area in terms of gathering data, one that wouldn’t hold up in court, but Teddy was hoping they wouldn’t make it to that point.

Once he’d uploaded the voice clip and run it through the precinct’s audio editing software, his half-empty cup of coffee abandoned, Teddy was able to make it all out a little better.

Though it was easier to understand the message, it certainly wasn’t any easier to wrap his head around it. A few of the words had been cut out, though he did manage to catch that it was someone saying they saw Thomas hanging out at a local club. Teddy didn’t think that the speedster would be that ignorant, not when he knew people were on the hunt for him, but his phone buzzed again a moment later. There was an image accompanying the voicemail, sent via text.

A cluster of blurry bodies, overexposed due to the camera’s flash in an otherwise dark room, were centered in the frame. Among them was a young man with bright hair, almost glowing in the poor lighting. He could have been some kid with really pale highlights, but Teddy was able to make out the blur that should have been his arm in the background of the photo. There were also a suspicious amount of light trails twisted through the dance floor for a regular photo, and Teddy squinted at the small screen before he gave up and enlarged it on his computer monitor.

Sure, the picture was pretty blurry.

Yeah, that could've been any random kid flailing to the beat.

But no, Teddy suspected Thomas might actually be idiotically audacious to pull a stunt like this.

~~~~~~

With a series of promises to bring coffee and danishes every morning for a month, along with an agreement to escort Kate to one of her father’s functions that she often referred to as ‘dreary’ and ‘full of overzealous morons with too much money,’ Teddy managed to coax her back into the office that afternoon. Her hair was twisted into a tight bun when she arrived, and he felt guilty with the knowledge that he had more than likely pulled her away from archery practice.

She waved off his concern with a flurry of her hand, knowing he was going to apologize unnecessarily before he’d even opened his mouth. His features must have been more telling than he intended. “I was nearly finished anyway, don’t worry about it. What do we have?”

“This.” Teddy offered up the photo and the garbled audio clip on the monitor, moving out of the way as she leaned across him to see.

“Well shit. That sure looks like him.”

“I know.”

“And we have a name for this club?”

“Yeah, I barely managed to scrape it out of the audio but I’m pretty sure it’s Marquee on 10th.”

Kate nodded the affirmative and tried to zoom in on the blurry details in the background of the image. “Yeah, they re-did the place a few years ago, and the wallpaper seems about right. Same with those loungers.”

“You’ve been?” Teddy asked, both brows raised.

“Unlike a certain someone, _I_ actually get out once in a while. It was for a date, about half a year ago,” she answered before waving off any further questions down that particular road. “So if he’s been seen here before, and from the message it seems like he’s been there more than once, how did you want to approach this?”

The look she was giving him meant that Kate had already decided how she thought it was best handled, but she wanted to see if Teddy either agreed or had an alternative. His brows furrowed for a moment and he shook his head. “Well, Thomas knows what we both look like. He was at the Halloween party and I’m sure he was keeping an eye on us before that. So we can’t just show up to this club, he’ll be out of there before we even catch sight of him.”

Kate nodded, and restrained herself from making any elaborate hand gestures to hurry his thought process along by stealing a sip of his lukewarm coffee.

Teddy felt his heart sink. “Kate, no.”

“What other options do we have?” She replied calmly, setting the mug back on the coaster instead of the desk where it had left a damp ring.

“We can get someone else in the department to do a sting for us, we’ve done it before.”

“And you really want someone else in on this case? When we’re not sure whether we have a valid case of a runaway or some kind of domestic abuse situation? I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I want more fingers in this mess--having Rick on our asses about it is bad enough.”

He sucked a breath in through his teeth, twisting his hands up and through his hair with an irritated tug. “I’m really not…”

“You’ll be fine. I’ll get a good lookout spot, somewhere up high where that kid wouldn’t gawk accidentally, and I’ll keep an eye on you. If he takes off or something hopefully we can at least see where he’s going.” Her voice was calm, smooth, and calculated. Teddy knew she was trying to talk him down from the seize of panic that was rising in his chest, but he couldn’t help feeling uneasy about the whole idea.

After a few moments of silence, he inhaled deeply, letting his shoulders shudder out the tension. “...Fine. But anything goes sideways, even a little, and I’m out of there. I can’t risk anyone finding out.”

“I know. I’ll have your back,” she whispered, jostling his shoulders with a bump from her own. “I’ll help you pick your disguise.”

~~~~~~

“What are you doing Wednesday night?” Cassie asked, hanging off the edge of his bed and letting her blonde ponytail drag along the carpet when she turned to look at him.

“Nothing, why?” Billy murmured, the end of a pen caught between his lips as he tried to make heads or tails of the readings he was going through. He circled another passage before scribbling a few notes in the sidelines, all the while grumbling about mid-thirteenth century literature analyses.

She rolled to a relatively upright position, swaying for a moment from the blood rush, before replying. “‘Cause I got tickets to a show at this club and I thought you might want to come?”

He pried his attention away from the words blurring in front of them, settling the pen from his mouth to save his spot on the page. “And you’re not taking Kate?” His right brow was arched high with suspicion.

“She’s working…” Cassie admitted, offering up her best pout to counter the fact that Billy had been her second choice. “Please come with? I know it’s not really your scene but it will be loads of fun!”

Huffing he swivelled around in his computer chair, watching her pull the best kicked-puppy look she could muster. “Okay, but on two conditions.”

“Anything!”

“One, you’re buying my drinks for me.”

“Lots of fruity things with umbrellas, coming right up!”

Billy rolled his eyes at the attempted dig on his masculinity and held up two fingers. “Number two, you have to pick up my pull list for the next month.”

He tried to hide the amusement on his face when Cassie’s expression eclipsed from cheery exhilaration to mock horror. “But that means I have to… go into a nerd store!” she protested, holding a hand to her chest and faking a rather overwhelming heart attack.

Billy let himself laugh at that, shaking his head and turning back to his schoolwork. “The very nerdiest. How many tickets do you have?” he wheedled, hoping to get an answer without too much prying.

“Teddy’s working too.” No such luck on the answer without hasty conclusions.

He felt his cheeks warm up and he focused on the looping of his pen as he tried to coax it to write in the margins. “Oh. Right, I guess that makes sense.”

“But it’ll still be fun!” she chimed, tossing a rolled up sock at him from the bedspread. “Even if your boyfriend isn’t there.”

“Yeah…” Billy mumbled before the words really set in, his eyes going wide and features flushing as he turned to face the blonde. “I-I never said he was my--”

“Well he is, isn’t he?” Cassie prompted, one brow raised.

He stuttered before returning to his notes, lifting one shoulder half-heartedly. “Maybe? We haven’t really… discussed it.”

Since Billy decided to mangle the last half of his sentence by barely opening his mouth to speak, Cassie flung herself off the bed and moved to sit on his desk instead. “Billy, you gotta ask him. Or you’re going to get hurt again, not that I’m sayin’ Teddy’s that kind of guy but…”

“I know!” he insisted, heaving a sigh and laying his forehead against the cool surface of his desk. “I know… Only… I don’t really know how to bring it up.” Billy was lying, he’d thought about bringing it up hundreds of times before--that wasn’t the real reason he was stalling.

_What if Teddy isn’t looking for something serious? What if I only push him away?_

He realized that the silence was stretching into the realm of too-long-to-be-not-awkward when Cassie tilted her head into his field of vision. “Okay mopey-pants, we are definitely getting you to go out on Wednesday and you are going to like it!”

Billy rolled his head to watch her, but maintained contact with the desk. “You’re dragging me to some posh nightclub, I really don’t see how I’m going to feel anything other than wildly uncomfortable.”

“Just wait until we get you dancing,” she teased, nudging him in the ribs and trying to get him to stop pouting for more than three seconds.

“That’s going to make me ridiculous. You’ve seen my dancing,” he complained, sitting up and swatting at her fingers. He was trying to maintain his unhappy frown but Cassie had started to make faces at him while she wriggled her fingers.

“You’ll be too drunk to caaaaaaa-aaaare~” she lilted in a sing-song tone, edging her hands closer to his sides.

Billy narrowly darted out of the chair before she leaned forward, slipping through the small space between his desk and the wall to try and make it to the door. “Cassandra Lang I swear to god if you tickle me…”

Cassie seemed unphased by the threat, her lips twisted in a smirk. “Oh? You’ll what? Pee your pants in retaliation?”

“Oh my god I hate you,” he groaned, leaping across the chair and sending it clattering to the ground, his limbs flailing as he (thankfully) crashed onto the bed.

Billy could hear his so-called ‘friend’ laughing at him, apparently too distracted by the hilarity to ask if he was okay, so he took the liberty of flinging his pillow directly at her head.

“Hey no fair!” she crowed, catching the pillow in her arms as it fell and frowning at his cheeky grin.

“You started it.”

“Oh, and I’m so gonna end it,” she replied, stalking towards him with pillow held high.

Billy made a weak attempt at shielding himself with his arms, but before he had landed a single retaliating blow, Cassie had him laughing so hard tears were streaming down his cheeks.

“Uncle, uncle! I give!” he shrieked, wheezing in gulps of air as soon as she stopped trying to smother him with the pillow while simultaneously jabbing pointed digits into his sides.

“And that,” Cassie beamed, sitting on his legs and giving him another solid whack to his middle. “Is why we are going clubbing. And I get to choose your outfit!”

Billy groaned and buried his face in his palms, making his best show of being in agony, even though he knew it wouldn’t get him anywhere.

All signs pointed to them going clubbing, and he would probably be wearing something ridiculous in the process.

~~~~~~

“I look ridiculous.” Teddy pulled at the edge of the button-down shirt, wondering why the hell it had to be so glaringly… _lumberjack_.

“Hush, it’s fine,” Kate replied, fiddling with the collar before stepping back to admire her handiwork. “I think you need some sleeves…”

“Oh thank god,” he sighed, already unrolling the cuffs of the shirt.

“No, no. Not shirt sleeves. Tattoo sleeves.”

He arched a brow. “Tattoos? Really?”

“Tattoos are in,” she mumbled, circling him while her eye raked over his new form top to bottom. “Yeah, tattoos please. No nerd ones.”

Teddy huffed at her before concentrating on his forearms, watching the inky spirals bleed onto the surface, covering freckles and morphing into abstract shapes. His left arm was full color, pops of vibrance between the dark lines, while the right was black and white with a set of wings arching out from his shirt cuff. He made sure to sneak a tiny star-spangled shield at the top of his left shoulder, where he was fairly certain Kate wouldn’t see it.

She was too busy inspecting the lines of ink where they stopped at his wrists, bobbing her head in approval and circling him again. He was beginning to feel like a deer being cornered by a particularly vicious wolf. “Okay… You look pretty good, Ted. Don’t forget to pitch your voice down a bit and no one would ever know it was you.”

“Great,” he replied with an eyeroll, glancing to the full-length mirror in Kate’s apartment to get a better glimpse of himself. The only trace of Teddy Altman that he could see in the reflection was the worried hunch of his narrower-than-usual shoulders and the way his lip was being gnawed at by slightly crooked teeth. His frame was still imposing, but shorter, with less definition in the muscles of his upper body and more in his legs. Runner’s legs, Kate had insisted, would go with the well-worn denim of the jeans she chose to hug his unfamiliar lines. He scrubbed his hand against the dark, thick beard before running his fingers against the shaved sides of his head before settling in the tangle of brown hair at the top of his skull.

“This is… weird,” Teddy complained, trying to pitch his voice down when he spoke, as requested.

Kate frowned at him, sensing the current of unease running through his words, and she moved to rest her hands on his (but not really his) shoulders gingerly. “I know. And I know you don’t want to do it this way, but I can’t see another option out there.”

He sighed, knowing she was right, since he’d spent the last two days trying to find any alternate route for their plan before ultimately coming up empty. This was their only possible solution if they wanted to locate Thomas without alerting whoever was after him or sending him running upstate before they would be able to get a word in edgewise. Even though Teddy knew the youth had been following and tracking their investigation, the only vibe he managed to get was a swift ‘back off and don’t talk to me’ one. He supposed that was better than a ‘please don’t kill me’ or ‘I am going to do horrible things to the world and it’s inhabitants’ vibe.

“Are you going to be okay?” Kate was watching him examine his new face with concern plastered all over hers. He knew she would take his place in a heartbeat if she could, and that thought alone made him relax, pushing his shoulders back into a proper posture.

“Yeah. You’ll be right there the whole time and it’s not like I’m infiltrating a gang, I’m just going to chill at a nightclub,” he answered, giving her a smile that was all Teddy, despite the change in his visage.

“Right,” she smiled, reaching to fit a small device into the shell of his ear. “This will let us communicate, though it might not pick up everything you say over the noise. You should be able to hear me though.”

Kate was sliding another pint-sized piece of equipment into her own ear while Teddy worked on making his own settle more comfortably. “Where did you get these? They’re not standard issue.” He hissed at the high-pitch squeal coming from the damned thing while he fiddled it into position.

She shooed his hands away and adjusted it for him, flicking the shell of his ear for good measure. “They’re not, no. They’re not even police issue.”

Teddy was leveling her with a narrowed-eye look as she held up her palms in a display of innocence. “Hey, you want to be stuck with those clunkers they call two-way radios?” Kate argued, hands moving to her hips and appearing about ready to either flick him again or fetch her bow. He conceded defeat with a shrug of his shoulders. “They’re mine, for some of the outdoor archery ranges.”

He knew a lie from her the second he heard the subtle lilt in her voice, but considering everything else they had on their plate that evening, he didn’t want to push his luck by pissing her off pre-stakeout. “Okay, okay. They are pretty cool, but won’t someone notice it?”

“If they do, it kind of looks like a hearing aid,” she answered, fiddling with the sleeve of his shirt one last time. “Are you ready to do this? The show starts in an hour, so I think we should aim for ninety minutes from now.”

“You’ll be in position when I get to the door, right?”

“Right. And I won’t move until I see you get out of there, unless you give me reason to.”

He nodded sharply, praying nothing happened that would qualify as dangerous enough for Kate to feel she needed to leave her post. It had been at least a few months since either of them had been on a field operation, and nothing that required as much off-the-book work as they were currently pulling off.

“If he’s there, I’m trying to get information on where he’s staying, right? Nothing else?”

“Yes. And try not to tip him off, or he will be out of there faster than a bat outta hell,” she chuckled, smoothing the concerned wrinkle from between his brows. “Calm down. Just be yourself, chatty and sweet.”

“But don’t be myself,” he groused, frowning at her and bringing the wrinkle right back to placement.

Kate laughed, and he let the tension drain from his shoulders before offering a chuckle of his own. “Right, be yourself but not yourself. And Teddy?”

“Yeah?”

“Be careful,” she whispered, giving his hand a quick squeeze before darting off to get into a considerably less ridiculous undercover outfit.

~~~~~~

Billy wrapped his arms around himself, trying to keep as much of his body heat from drifting away in the chilled air as he possibly could. Cassie had vetoed his request for a reasonably warm hoodie, instead insisting he wore a lighter, more ‘club-appropriate’ canvas jacket. Considering he only wore a tee shirt beneath it (the only one she found that didn’t have geeky pop culture references splashed all over it), he was freezing his ass off.

Between that, the lack of a coffee before they’d left, and the fact that they were nowhere near the front of the line, Billy was beginning to get grumpy. “Seriously, it’s not too late to go home and order pizza and watch whatever sappy chick flick you want. I swear I won’t even make fun of the atrocious music and cheesy dialogue.”

“No and you totally would,” she maintained through chattering teeth, holding her too-thin shrug around her shoulders like a lifeline. “Besides, do you have any idea how long it took me to get tickets to this place?”

One look at the lineup told him how popular this nightclub had become since it re-invented itself a few years ago, and he shook his head. “Probably way too long. You’re going to owe me some serious drinks when we get in there. I don’t think I can feel my legs anymore.” He made an exaggerated gesture at the dark-wash skinny jeans that she had pulled from _somewhere_ in the depths of his closet, but he couldn’t remember purchasing them. They fit too tightly along the curve of his thigh for his taste, and he resisted the urge to tug at them.

A rush of cheers rolled back from the front of the line and Cassie started bouncing both with the eager joy of reaching the front and the attempt to keep warm. “Ooo! They’re letting people in!”

“Joy,” Billy replied, voice dripping with sarcasm.

“If you complain this whole night, Mr. Kaplan, I’ll be sure to take photographic evidence of embarrassing moments and show them to Teddy on the first available opportunity.” Cassie had turned on him and was pressing her index finger into the band emblem on his chest.

Billy straightened at that, feeling his body shiver, though whether it was from the cold or the threat he wasn’t able to tell. “Yes ma’am.”

“We’re going to get drunk and then dance until we can’t feel our legs.”

“I already can’t feel my legs thanks to these damn pants.”

“Shush, they look good. Teddy would like them,” she replied coyly as the line began to move and they were hustled towards the warmth of the entrance.

IDs were checked, the bouncer eyeballing them suspiciously before staring down the pair with an intimidating gaze as they both barely looked (and barely were) the legal age. However, they were waved through to the interior of the pulsating club without further scruple.

“Holy shit,” Billy muttered, eyes wide as he glanced around the room, already packed even though more than half the lineup was still waiting outside.

Cassie was grinning at his side. “I know, right? Bar’s this way!” she hollered, corralling his elbow in the crook of her arm before tugging him towards the high top of the bar. Billy was still trying to absorb everything around him--all the bodies fluctuating on the dance floor in the violet-hued lighting, the twists of glowing color on the upper balcony walls--when Cassie pulled at his arm again and thrust a drink into his hands.

Yup, there was a frilly little umbrella and everything.

He shot an exaggerated eyeroll in her direction, not catching Cassie’s words but assuming she had made some kind of crack about his masculinity. They wandered the edges of the room before finding a half-occupied chaise lounger in the corner, quickly perching on the end to sip at their drinks and people-watch. Cassie was already bobbing along to the music but Billy felt he was going to need a hell of a lot more to drink if he was expected to dance to the heavy bass beat among the horde of people already entangled in the rhythm.

Billy was fiddling with the umbrella in his drink, trying to stab a maraschino cherry at the bottom of the glass, so he didn’t take notice of the exchange happening beside him. When he looked back up, to ask Cassie if she wanted to grab them another set of drinks, all he saw was her clinging to a muscled arm as she toddled off towards the dance floor--completely abandoning him.

_You have got to be shitting me._

He grumbled something more than a little uncouth under his breath, preparing himself mentally to surge across the room to the nearest bar, when a lanky pair of legs halted at the edge of his field of vision. Billy glanced up to meet a warm smile and vibrant hazel eyes.

“Is this seat taken?”

Scooching over to allow the stranger more room than strictly necessary, Billy tried to find Cassie in the waves of people twisting under the pulsating light, to no avail. So much for not ditching him and buying his drinks all night.

“Your girlfriend bail on you?” the newcomer asked, his pale blond hair bright with the sheen of sweat, sticking to his forehead almost as much as his shirt was sticking to…

Right, off that train of thought.

“No. Well, yeah. But not my girlfriend and I’m seriously reconsidering the ‘friend’ part of our status.”

The lithe man laughed, moving his drink to his left hand so he could offer up his right. “Noam. You are…?”

“Billy,” he answered, taking the other’s hand and giving it a quick shake.

“Say Billy, can I grab you a drink? Since it looks like your friend won’t be springing for them any time soon.”

Billy’s brows furrowed together, a splash of confusion and mild concern crowding his features. “How did you…”

“You didn’t really look like you wanted to be here, and I know when I don’t wanna be somewhere I’m usually bribed,” he insisted, standing and handing down his own brightly-colored concoction to Billy. “I’ll grab us something and be right back if you want to save our spots?”

“I’ll come with you.” He was already standing, ignoring Noam’s attempt to get him to hold his drink in favor of hurriedly standing. “And you don’t have to buy me anything.”

There was a bright grin on the blond’s face, and he nudged Billy’s ribs companionably. “Hey, I want to, okay?”

Billy nodded, no harm in letting the other buy him a single drink, so long as he kept a good eye on it while he was being poured. His mother’s lectures had at least managed to make him good and paranoid about accepting any kind of beverage at the bar, no matter how friendly the person appeared to be.

Though he didn’t see any danger lurking behind the dazzling smile Noam flashed him before nodding towards the bar and leading them off through the crowds.

_Besides, I have a boyfriend._

Billy allowed himself a small grin at the thought, his chest fluttering uneasily with the idea that struggled to make its presence known.

_I have a boyfriend._

~~~~~~

He couldn’t stop scratching at his beard.

Kate had given him hell for it before they parted ways, and he heard her griping at him through the earpiece as he waited in line outside the nightclub. He flipped her a particularly graceless gesture as he gave the beard another scratch, only to catch a snide remark in his ear.

“Saw that, asshole. Good to stay in character but stop scratching yourself so damn much, makes you look tweaky.”

Teddy didn’t reply, lest the people around him think he was talking to himself, but he did try to stop clawing at his chin every five seconds.

“Line’s moving,” Kate quipped from her aerial position as Teddy watched the crowd surge forward in front of him. “Just breathe, this is the hard part. Your ID is about as legit as it gets, and I added it to the database--temporarily of course.”

He was pretty sure she supplemented her phrasing with that last part after catching a glimpse of his glower of disapproval, aimed in what he thought was her general direction.

“Once you’re in, it’s all easy smiles and hanging around until we catch sight of him.”

“If,” Teddy murmured.

“Right, if.” At least the mic seemed pretty good at picking up his voice from the noise of the street, but he was unsure how it would fare inside. “And don’t be afraid to try and have some actual _fun_ while you’re in there, okay?”

He didn’t have time to flip another ‘response’ her way before the front of the line approached and he stepped up to the bouncer, offering his ID. The burly man that was watching the door was at least a head taller than normal-Teddy, and it was all he could do not to hunch under the gaze that was pouring down on him. A quick scan of the card and the big guy handed it back over without so much as a word.

Totally not intimidating at all.

Teddy shook out any of the nervousness he’d been feeling as he stepped into the building, collecting his personal thoughts about the evening and tucking them away. It was time to get to work.

The music hit him in a rolling wave of sound, one song fading out and into the next before he had a chance to orient himself. Someone hurried past and nearly tipped their entire drink down his front, though Teddy managed to sidestep them before disaster struck. Moving into the main room, which housed a large dance floor between two bars, he could see that this was going to be an even more daunting task than they had originally thought.

“This place is packed,” he spoke at a reasonable tone, mostly testing to see if Kate was able to pick up anything he said over the pounding bass beat in the rhythm.

“Try to keep your eyes open, there’s a VIP lounge up top too, but I don’t think he would draw attention to himself by going up there willingly.”

Teddy could barely hear her above the din, but he did pick up the words enough to understand them. “Right,” he offered in reply, to let her know things were working in terms of communication. The upper lounges would most likely be a bust, so he would have to stick to scanning the crowded lower floors, hoping to catch a glimpse of the obnoxious hairstyle Thomas chose to sport.

Searching the room visually turned out to be fruitless, so he turned to asking people if they had seen his ‘friend’ hanging around. Without a picture to go by, beyond the one that had been attached to his file, Teddy received a myriad of answers--everything from a shrug with no verbal response, to an excited screech followed by a series of babbling explanations and a flailing point to the far side of the room. None of the patrons had seen Thomas, at least not that night, and since they were all at least two cups in he wasn’t sure that there would be any point in trying to question people further.

Sidling up to the bar, he decided to speak with one of the bartenders on shift, since they at least had to stay relatively sober in order to work effectively. To even get their attention, however, he needed to buy a drink so they lingered at his end of the bustling bar.

While the young woman tending bar was mixing his drink, faster than he’d seen at any other club he’d been to in the past, he rapidly managed to shout out his description of Thomas. “Hey, I’m looking for my friend that’s supposed to meet me here. A little under six feet with crazy pale hair and bright green eyes. Have you seen him?”

He wasn’t sure that she had heard him over the roar of approval that started up with the next song, but she nodded her head and pointed off towards the dance floor. “There’s a guy that kinda meets that description, just came up to get a drink with his boyfriend. Comes in here a lot, but I’ve never seen the guy he was with. They must be a new thing.”

“Thanks,” Teddy replied, taking his drink and stuffing a fiver into the tip jar. Making his way through the busy floor, complete with bodies surging wildly in time with the music, was more difficult than he anticipated with a full drink in his hand. He tipped half the drink quickly down his throat before continuing the trek, feeling a few appreciative gazes on him as he sauntered with as much false confidence he was able to muster, fighting back the urge to blush.

Kate was silent on the comm, and he was grateful for that, since he could concentrate on making his way towards to the mop of bright strands in the pulsating crowd without distraction. On closer inspection, however, he saw that it was definitely _not_ Thomas but there was a hint of similarity in the slender frame and shock of pale hair.

The young man was dancing with another, slightly shorter individual with dark hair, a lithe build, porcelain skin and a mirthful grin that danced all the way up to his chocolate eyes. The cadence of his voice was so familiar it sent a clutching panic straight to the center of Teddy’s chest.

_Oh._

_Shit._

~~~~~~

Billy let Noam buy him exactly one drink, and then another, because the blond was so damn persistent he was having a difficult time saying no. However, second drink in hand, Billy held up his palm as a universal ‘woah’ and motioned towards a quieter cluster of couches. They still had to lean in close to hold anything that could be considered a conversation, and their voices were still more of a shout than normal speaking tones.

“Look,” Billy started, sitting on the arm of a burgundy lounger and taking a quick sip of his drink. “I appreciate the attention and all, but I’m kind of seeing someone right now.”

Noam settled into the cushion beside him, expression changing only briefly with a flicker of disappointment before being replaced by another, softer, smile. “Hey, that’s cool. I’m glad you told me instead of letting me hit on you all night.”

Feeling his cheeks heat up, Billy turned his attention down to his drink, swirling the contents uneasily. “So, uh, yeah. I totally understand if you’d rather go hang around someone who’s more… invested? Available? Um, non-attached?”

The lack of reply was beginning to make Billy nervous, which wasn’t helping with the urge to ramble aimlessly, and he glanced up to see Noam pondering over his own beverage. He made to stand, but the blond met his wary eyes and grinned. “Tell you what, let’s just have some fun tonight, nothing more than dancing and drinks.” He chuckled, sloshing back the rest of his drink before slamming the empty glass on a nearby table. “And if things don’t work out with that boyfriend of yours, maybe you can look me up?” Noam teased with a wink, lifting himself from the couch.

Billy couldn’t help the burst of laughter that spilled from his lips, shaking his head while he also finished off his drink and stood. “Don’t get your hopes up.”

“I won’t,” Noam answered, smiling as he grasped the other’s wrist gingerly and led him off to the writhing dance floor.

Though he glanced around for a moment to see if he was able to spot where Cassie had disappeared to, Billy found he was more interested in having a good time with an almost-stranger than trying to seek out his friend. Normally, he would be all about jumping ship at this point, returning to the safe haven of his room and a good movie. (Seriously, _Plan 9 From Outer Space_ should be an annual tradition in every household.) This time, he felt comfortable--Noam was easy to talk to and wasn’t pressuring him into anything more than he was willing to give, but at the same time he was brazenly honest about his intentions and opinions. Billy appreciated that.

“Noam?” Billy called, raising his voice above the thrum of the music.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

He was rewarded with another huge grin, dazzling smiles seemed to be a specialty with Noam. “Don’t mention it. Let’s dance!”

~~~~~~

His heart thundered in his ears, much louder than the pulse of music outside, and Teddy clung to the edges of the steel sink as though his life depended on it. He felt dizzy, and heard Kate’s voice faintly buzzing from the device he’d thrown onto the counter, ripping it out of his ear the second he entered the bathroom. Something must have escaped his throat when he saw them, a strangled noise or a series of words, but she had picked up on it right away and started asking a million questions that he couldn’t handle in his current state.

Once his breathing slowed, nearing a normal rate, he picked the earpiece up off the damp counter, dried it on the edge of his now way-too-tight shirt, and tucked it back into place. “Sorry,” he whispered, both to Kate and to his own reflection staring at him with bewildered blue eyes. He had been under too much stress with focusing on maintaining his shift, so he beelined it out of sight the moment he was able to convince his feet to move. It was a good thing the club was so dim and overpopulated, or someone might have noticed the fact that his body mass had began to bulge exponentially as a result of his flash of anger. Teddy tried to calm himself enough so the shirt didn’t look like it was going to burst at the seams with the slightest provocation, but he barely managed to settle his muscles into a more familiar, more _him_ shape.

“What the **fuck** happened, Ted.”

Her tone indicated more concern than actual desire for an answer, but Teddy pulled in a ragged breath and composed himself enough to respond. “I don’t think Thomas is here. Even if shows, I… I don’t think I’ll be able to track him down. It’s crowded, and I’ve shifted back.”

“Did anyone see?” Efficiency minus tact, very Kate.

“No,” he replied, watching his expression in the mirror for only a few moments before he couldn’t stand it and pried his glance away. He saw all the hurt and anger awash there, struggling to make itself known even as he pushed it away again. “No, I managed to locate an apparently lesser-used washroom.”

He could hear the relief in her sigh over the gentle hum of music outside the door. “Okay, that’s good at least. You think you can shift back and head out here? We can regroup and decide what to do next.”

“Kate I… I can’t. I’m not leaving yet.”

“What?”

“Billy is… Billy’s here.”

“Oh.” He heard her snort on the other end of the line and wondered if he’d said something funny. “I see, you want to play hooky so you can get some face time with--”

“He’s here with someone else.”

“Like… a date?”

“Yeah, or like a boyfriend.” Teddy hated how anguished he sounded even in the echo of the tiled walls; he couldn’t imagine how pathetic it sounded on Kate’s end.

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

They were silent for a few moments, Teddy running through all the ways he could view the situation. He could assume that Billy was with a friend, and nothing else was going on--but the bartender had mentioned that the blond was there with his ‘boyfriend.’ He could panic about whether or not this was a pre-existing relationship that had been going on in the background while Teddy and Billy shared what Teddy had assumed were dates, or maybe Billy was just very open about the boundaries of relationships.

No matter where his thoughts were spiraling, none of the directions were good, and the more he thought it through the more he felt his chest constrict, his heart shuddering painfully behind his ribs.

He barely registered that Kate was speaking again.

“We can go to my place, eat some terrible food, and watch a movie. You can talk to Billy tomorrow, it’s probably a big misunderstanding anyway. ...Ted?”

It was possible he wasn’t thinking clearly as he pulled the device from his ear again. It was possible that the only flicker of an idea rampaging through his brain was that he needed to get Billy away from that stranger, if only to speak with him one-on-one. It was possible that falling back into old habits, even bad ones, came far too easy.

“ _Let’s see what you can do, Altman_.”

He left the earpiece in his pocket as his body warped around him, morphing into a larger shape with more muscles, more hair, more power in his vocal chords. His clothing shifted too, cape billowing out behind him as he left the confined space of the bathroom and walked across the center of the club like he was a Crown Prince of Asgard.

~~~~~~

The club went from normal levels of pumping beats to fan-girl screeching in about three seconds flat. Billy covered his ears and looked around, wondering what famous idiot had decided to ‘drop in’ on one of the hottest clubs in town, on a Wednesday of all nights. He couldn’t see around the waves of people, though Noam had perched on the tips of his toes to try and get a better viewpoint.

“What’s going on?” Billy shouted, tugging at the sleeve of Noam’s tee shirt to get his attention.

“No idea,” he replied, craning his neck and peering towards the bar. “Wait… Holy shit, is that _Thor_?”

The gears whirring in Billy’s skull shuddered to a momentary halt before starting up full steam again. There was no way that Thor would be anywhere near a club, at least not on his own, and the last media report out of Avengers HQ had stated that he returned to Asgard for a personal matter just a few days ago.

Not that Billy followed their Twitter or anything.

“It can’t be,” he found himself replying to no one, as Noam had slipped off into the crowds, presumably to get into a better position to see. Not that Billy would blame him, since he was already making his way around the clusters of people to try and get to the bar where the god seemed to be… ordering a drink?

“Keeper of beverages, I would like to sample the finest ale Midgard has to offer!”

That throaty bellow definitely _sounded_ like Thor, thought Billy still wasn’t convinced that it wasn’t simply a really good impersonation. The hammer was missing, for one, though maybe the god had left it behind at the tower in favor of public safety. It wasn’t as though he couldn’t beckon for it, should the need arise.

There was a gaggle of girls surrounding the imposing figure, staying far enough away to avoid direct contact, though a few were obviously only one drink away from throwing themselves at the son of Odin. Thor was recounting a tale that had been told a thousand times before, one Billy almost knew by heart, but the crowd around him didn’t seem to mind. For a brief moment, his eyes locked with the electric blue of a god’s, and Billy felt the tremor run through his frame. But there was something off about that look, something that spoke of fear and meek nature, not the boastful confidence that was the norm.

The instance was cut short when a girl, probably too drunk to even be upright, shoved a marker and her forearm at the hulking man. Momentarily surprised, he laughed and replied with an “Oh no, I couldn’t young Midgardian” even as he was already scrawling an imperfect signature along the smooth skin of her arm.

_No. No way._

If the irregular nature of his signature (too many jagged lines that were remnants of a nervous hand) hadn’t convinced Billy that this whole situation was a farce, the slip in dialogue certainly had. Now everything was clicking into place, the irregular way ‘Thor’ kept cupping his hand at the back of his neck, the nervous tremor of a ‘god’s’ hands when their eyes met, the subtle way his laugh lilted up at the end. These were not Thor’s traits, they belonged to someone else. Scowling, Billy stalked through the border guard of people that surrounded the man, ensuring the blond saw him coming when he approached.

“Can I talk to you?” he asked, voice barely above a snarl, though by the shock in Thor’s gaze, he got the point across. “ _Alone_.”

There was a commotion from the crowd, mostly complaints and speculations about who this scrawny guy ordering around the god of thunder was. ‘Thor’s’ attitude visibly faltered for a few seconds before he stood, speaking calmly to the people who were now close to riotous. “Duty beckons, oh people of Marquee. Do not fear, I shall return on the morrow!” he shouted over the sound of applause and cheers, following Billy’s thin frame as he twisted through onlookers and made his way to the back exit.

The night air was cold, and he filled his lungs with the bite, trying to steel himself at the same time he fought pinpricks in his eyes. Billy didn’t know how to approach the subject, but when he heard the heavy door closing behind the other, he found his anger welling up fresh.

“How may I assist you, Midgard--”

“Cut the act, Ted.”

~~~~~~

Teddy felt his blood turn to ice in his veins, and not from the chill in the breeze. The tone in Billy’s voice was harsh, and he used ‘Ted’ when before it had always been ‘Teddy.’ The change was insignificant, Kate called him Ted all the time, but the word sounded heavy and weighted on Billy’s tongue, like he used it as a weapon. He fumbled around the leaden nature of his own mouth before working out a murmur of a sentence.

“Billy, I…”

“What the hell was all that?” Billy turned, motioning towards the club with an open palm while the other was wrapped fiercely around his middle, protecting and holding together barely concealed rage. His voice was shaking, and Teddy opened and closed his hands uselessly at his sides, trying to pinpoint the right words, find the way he would be able to turn the clock back on this.

“I just… I didn’t mean to upset you,” he whispered, gaze lowering from the anguish in Billy’s eyes to stare instead at the gravel strewn along the alley.

Billy answered with a snarl, his free hand clutching into a fist and Teddy could feel the crackle of emotion surrounding him. "Change back. You can, can't you? I don't want to talk to a mockery of Thor right now."

Quickly he shifted his features, his frame slighter and shoulders hunched forward in shame. He wished that the asphalt would open up and swallow him, save him from this spiralling disaster, pull them away from this ledge they were teetering so precariously on. "Billy..." He tried again, softer, but his voice either didn't reach or was ignored.

“Were you ever going to tell me?” he asked, voice snapping with emotion that fluctuated quickly between anger and misery. “Or were you just going to keep this big secret all to yourself?”

“I didn’t think…” Teddy was having a hard time finding the right words, finding something to say that wouldn’t bury him further in his own grave.

“You didn’t think what? Didn’t think I could handle it?” Billy had turned away now, was focused on knotting his fingers in dark strands, presumably to give his hands something to do other than lash out.

Teddy took a tentative step forward, hand outstretched and shaky. “I just didn’t… Didn’t know how to tell you. My powers haven’t been… well-received in the past,” he whispered, hearing his voice shuddering around him, the sweep of memories he would rather leave behind brushing against his subconscious.

“So at the museum, did you use them then?”

Teddy nodded and caught the twinge of hurt in Billy’s features when he turned to face the blond again. He was clutching at his thin frame, dark eyes swirling with tears while he attempted to collect himself. Teddy would have felt better with yelling, or physical violence--the pain he felt clamoring in his chest at the sight of Billy emotionally dissolving in front of him was agony.

It was even worse to know he was causing it.

“Billy…” he tried again, and he would keep trying as long as he was able to call up even a whisper of his voice.

“Is this even how you really look?”

Teddy felt the shock of Billy’s words thunder to his core, and while the seconds ticked into minutes he couldn’t work up the courage to speak. Part of him wanted to say yes, to end this disaster before it got any worse, but he wasn’t able to bring himself to lie again. “...Mostly.”

The glimmer of betrayal that passed through Billy’s eyes was enough to bring the sting of tears to the forefront in Teddy’s. “Mostly? So… what…? What…?”

Billy was choking on his words, drowning them in the sound of oncoming sorrow, but Teddy could hear the questions hanging in the air--a million ways it might end, all with the same meaning. _What do you look like? What is your real face? What are you?_ Teddy didn’t know if he had an appropriate answer for any of those hypotheticals, didn’t know if any mumbled phrase that fell from his lips would reach Billy in a way that would stall this downward spiral. Without concern about whether anyone was watching, Teddy heaved a deep, shuddering sigh and let go of the control he held over his own body, the shape he had kept up for years changing and rippling marginally. Most people wouldn’t notice the minor differences--a few less fine lines on his forehead and around his eyes, more of the baby-face coming back to a chiseled jaw, a subtle shrinking of his slouched shoulders--but Teddy saw the changes reflected in Billy’s visage.

“I just aged myself up a little, a few years older than Kate, so we’d be more hireable…” he muttered, knowing how absurd it sounded even before the words left his lips. His mouth felt dry, but he pressed on since Billy was standing still, attention somewhere on the pavement with only silence surrounding him. “I’m twenty-three as of last May, if that helps to make any sense out of… all of this.”

There was still no reply, and Teddy was beginning to worry about what kind of thoughts might be going through Billy’s head. He darted his eyes up for what was supposed to be only a moment, it _should_ have only been a moment, but it was like everything that had been keeping him trembling and upright _whooshed_ out of him and Teddy was stilled. The shock on pale features had him locked in place. Teddy noted that Billy had stepped much closer during his silence, when he had been rambling on too much to notice.

“So you were just going to… never tell me about this? About this whole part of your life?” Billy whispered, his voice cracking like a shock coursing through him.

“I would have told you. I… I didn’t know how.” Teddy felt his stomach twisting uncomfortably, Billy’s eyes shuddered to blue in the light streaming from the streetlamps as he turned away again.

“If you were keeping this from me, how am I supposed to know you’re not… you’re not keeping other things?”

He could hear the implications, hear the assumptions Billy was jumping to as quickly as wildfire spreading in the brush. “Billy, I would never…” Teddy tried to place a hand against the pale grey of the other’s jacket, but the dark-haired young man was already jerking away, closing in on himself before he collapsed.

“How can I know that? How can I be sure? How am I ever supposed to trust you if…” Billy shook his head quickly, the flash of headlights as a car drove by glinting off the dampness on his cheeks. “I can’t do this.”

“Billy,” Teddy hissed, his voice catching and stumbling in his throat but he forced himself to speak through the strain of it. “Please. Let me fix this.” He was reaching again, though he knew it was futile since Billy had already started off to the sidewalk, his head low and face obscured. It was futile but Teddy wanted so badly to stop this moment, to pull Billy into his arms and murmur apologies into thick strands of dark hair, to make everything okay.

_Please don’t go._

“You can’t turn back time, Ted. It just doesn’t work that way.”

_Please._

The words stopped his feet at the same time they stilled his thundering heart. Teddy felt every piece of him crumbling as he watched Billy retreat, disappear around the bend of the building, and all but vanish with what remained of his hope. He choked in a breath, the air harsh when it hit his lungs, and Teddy surrendered to a shudder of anguish on the exhale.

_Please..._

He didn’t bother trying to stop it, didn’t try to shift back into ‘normalcy.’ Teddy let the waves of ache and grief roll over him in the dingy alley behind a thumping club while the sound of the wind covered his sobs.

~~~~~~

After twenty minutes with no response, Kate started to panic. She heard the change in sound, blasts of bass exchanged for whispers and wind, and immediately abandoned her post in favor of finding Ted and kicking his ass.

Any inkling of doling out punishment dissipated the second she found him, crouched with his shoulders against the brick and mortar as though it were the only thing holding him together. His breathing was ragged and Kate could see the familiar panes of his younger self in the agony on his face.

“Ted?” she asked quietly, not wanting to startle him, though she had intentionally made a lot of noise on her approach. He didn’t look up, but she watched the twitch of his fingers indicating he’d heard her.

“Hey.” His voice was harsh, and Kate had no doubt that he’d probably been crying for a while before she found him.

"My place. Now," she insisted, hooking an arm around Ted's shoulders and forcing his body upright before leading him the few blocks to her car.

Once they were safely away from prying eyes and ears, the tones floating over from the club no more than a muted thrum, Kate settled a hand on the blond’s shoulder, watching it stiffen almost instantly. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Ted shook his head, clenching and unclenching his hands in his lap. She was used to dealing with breakups, consoling an ex or a friend, but Kate knew that Ted had never let anyone get this close before, never fallen this hard, and she was finding herself at a bit of a loss on how to aptly deal with it. Well, other than the barely-concealed hint of rage playing at the corner of her frown which was urging her to find the person responsible for causing her friend pain and to cause them pain in return.

But that wouldn’t really get them anywhere productive.

So she put the car into drive and proceeded towards her apartment. “When you want to talk about it, I’m here, okay?” She didn’t need an answer, she saw the droop of his shoulders as some of the tension leaked from them. They passed through the remaining streets in silence, the radio on a barely-audible classical music station. By the time she had coaxed him upstairs, settling him onto the couch with an ultra-soft blanket and a mug of hot tea, Ted had begun to relax. His muscles weren’t on high alert anymore and his hands had stopped quivering around the heated ceramic.

Kate popped in _Lord of the Rings_ (a movie she had never been fond of but knew it was one of his favorites), before slipping into the kitchen. She made two kinds of popcorn, a large plate of nachos overwhelmed with cheese and onions, and dug her super secret emergency breakup weapon out from the freezer--triple chocolate, mocha fudge ice cream. Somehow she balanced it all and settled the spread onto the coffee table, handing Ted the ice cream and a spoon.

“Eat.” Kate placed a box of tissues on the table as well, just in case. It never hurts to be prepared.

“Thank you,” Ted’s voice was soft, still crackling with pain, but she didn’t push the issue. He would talk when he was ready.

They watched the film with a silence comparable to the car ride, an offhand quip here or there about something happening on screen. Ted had made his way through half the pint of ice cream, most of the nachos, and a few heaping handfuls of popcorn. Kate wasn’t sure how many times she refreshed his tea, but eventually she brought the electric kettle out into the living room to avoid getting up again every ten minutes.

When the credits started rolling on the first movie, she got up to begin the second one, despite the fact that it was already nearing two in the morning. After setting it up and collapsing back onto the couch, she barely heard the quiet sigh beside her.

“Kate… What do I do now?”

Kate could feel a tightness in her chest from the ache in his voice, and she would give anything to make it all go away. “It depends. What happened?”

That was all it took for the levee to break.

~~~~~~

Words started to bubble to the surface at the same moment as tears, and Teddy had a hard time controlling either of them. To Kate’s credit, she let him sob, scream, babble, and balk as much as he needed, all the while rubbing soothing circles between his shoulder blades. When he finally calmed enough to speak coherent sentences, after demolishing half a box of tissues, Teddy heaved a sigh hard enough to make his shoulders quiver.

“What do I do?”

“Well, that depends on what you want. And what William wants.”

Oh. She was calling him William now. Definitely pissed off.

Teddy raked his fingers through blond strands, forcing them into abstract clusters standing at attention. He kept them buried in his hair, tugging gently in an attempt to ground himself instead of just slipping back into despair.

“How do I fix this? Can I even fix this?”

“I don’t know, Ted. What even set you off in the first place? I assume you shifted into some big, scary--”

“I shifted into Thor.”

“Well, fuck.” Kate was staring at him, eyes wide and a hint of a frown on her lips. She was worrying the edge of her thumbnail between her teeth. “Yeah, that might cause a little bit of chaos. Why on earth did you do that?”

Clenching his hands into fists against his knees, after letting them tumble from his head, Teddy was quickly reminded of the flood of emotions that caused this mess in the first place. The anger and hurt was welling up again, but he subdued them with a reminder that they would do no good now. “He was with another guy,” he growled, voice low and harsh. So much for not sounding angry about it.

“Doing what?” Succinct and to the point as always, Kate didn’t look nearly as irked by this fact as he thought she should be.

“...dancing?” Teddy offered, slowly beginning to realize just how rash he’d been when he leapt to all kinds of conclusions. “But the bartender said Billy was this guy’s boyfriend!” he insisted, quickly trying to redeem his actions.

“And the bartender knows this because…?” She was leading him now, like she did with cases, pushing him towards the correct answer even though it was right under his nose and glaringly obvious.

“Assumptions,” he groaned, burying his head in his hands and sinking his face between his knees. “I’m an idiot.”

“Also an assumption, but backed by quite a few facts at this point,” she teased, settling her hand between his shoulder blades again.

“How do I fix this?” he mumbled, thoughts looping as the reality of the night’s events crashing down around him in waves.

“Depends.”

“On?” Teddy sounded hopeful when he peered up, meeting Kate’s warm gaze. She offered him a little half-smile.

“On how mad he is.”

~~~~~~

The door rattled in its frame as Billy slammed it shut, stalking into his room with a growl burning through his teeth. He threw the now-useless phone across the room, his body crackling with bright bursts of blue static, mind reeling and racing and spinning out of control.

_Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK._

Of course it couldn’t be that easy, nothing was ever that easy, especially for Billy Kaplan, world class fucking-things-up champion. He was still seeping with anger, dwelling on the things that had been unsaid, the things he expected to hear.

_What were you doing with that guy?_

_What am I to you?_

_I love you._

Billy felt his cheeks heat all over at that last thought and he flung his pillows across the room, textbooks hurtling after them, and anything else he was able to get his hands on after that. He screamed, not words but just strangled sound, and the effort took the breath from his lungs and the strength from his legs. With a wobbly step forward, he collapsed, arms pressed hard against the edge of his mussed bed and his face angled towards the floor. Tears welled up and he didn’t stop them, the angry burn was welcome after all the ache in his chest.

“Fuck,” he hissed, watching drops fall to the ugly beige carpet while he let his body tremble as quietly as possible.

When Cassie came storming into his room the next morning, Billy hadn’t bothered to move from his position on the floor. She nearly bowled him over on her way in, but she stumbled and landed on the bed instead. He didn’t bother to look up.

“Billy, where the hell did you go last night?” She was cross, he was able to tell by the pitch of her voice, but he didn’t care.

“I could ask you the same thing,” he sulked, picking at a hole in his jeans--when had that happened? He worried it larger while she spoke, her words soft but not reaching his ears. His mind was a million miles away, tossing around possibilities and pondering over outcomes.

“BILLY!”

His head snapped up at that, Cassie’s normally sweet expression twisted into a frown. She tangled her fingers into his hair, gentle, and gave a harsh pull. “What. Happened.”

“Ow!” Billy yelped, trying to shove her hands away, but she only held tighter. “Okay, okay! I’ll talk!”

She nodded before getting up and closing the hall door, not wanting any nosey floormates to overhear what should be a private conversation. Cassie stood with her back to him for a long while, and he saw the taut line between her shoulders.

“Look… I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t have ditched you. Especially when you didn’t want to go out in the first place… But I really need to know what happened. You weren’t answering your phone and I started freaking out because no one had seen you for ages and…”

“Oh, that. I, uh… sort of fried it?” he offered meekly, moving to stand from his position on the floor only to find that his legs were completely asleep and immobile. Oh well, the floor would have to do.

“You fried it?” she asked, brows knit together in confusion as she turned to him. “Like, dropped it in water fried it or ‘fried it,’ fried it?”

“Um, the second one…” Billy tried again to get his legs working, but they were being stubborn, so he pulled himself up onto the bed instead. His sneakers fell off as his legs dangled uselessly over the edge, but Cassie didn’t seem to notice.

“Shit, Billy are you okay? Did you…”

The question went unfinished, but Billy knew what she was asking. He shook his head. “No, I didn’t hurt anyone. I kind of stormed straight here. Heh, storm--get it?”

He heard Cassie heave a sigh, felt the shift of the mattress as she joined him on the rumpled bedspread. Delicate fingers were weaving back through his hair and he relaxed, just a little. “So what caused it?”

He was going to stay silent, keep his thoughts to himself for a while longer, but Cassie massaged along the throbbing pain in his skull, and the words sort of slipped out without his permission. “I saw Teddy at the club, except it wasn’t Teddy, it was Thor.”

“Is this some kind of weird sex dream thing, ‘cause I don’t know if I want to--”

“Thor was Teddy. Teddy can shapeshift.” Billy was peering at her from his position on the bed, tilting his head enough to see her but not enough to disconnect her fingers from his scalp.

Cassie mouthed a tiny ‘oh’ as she pieced it together, her hands working absently through his hair. “And that’s why you’re upset?”

He buried his face again, not wanting to look at her while he muttered his reply into the mattress. “We had a huge fight and broke up.”

The movement along his head stilled and Billy could almost feel the tension running through Cassie’s body into his own. “Really?” her voice was quiet, and she sounded closer to tears than he felt.

“Yeah,” he answered, feeling a knot of regret twist away the anger in his stomach.

“Oh…”

If there was one thing he loved most about Cassie, it was that she never pushed things too far, never tumbled a conversation too close toward the territory of an argument. “Have you slept?”

“Not unless my legs falling asleep counts.”

Cassie rolled her eyes at him before giving another tug at his hair, this time gentle. “Sleep. We can talk more about this once you’ve had some time to reboot your brain.”

“Mmm… I don’t wanna…” he murmured against the sheets, trying to bury his face beneath the array of blankets that had somehow escaped his fury.

“Too bad,” she answered, standing abruptly and leaving him feeling lost and alone in the center of his tiny dorm bed. Billy began to wonder if she had somehow slipped out of the room without his hearing it, but he didn’t want to turn his head and see. After a moment, he felt the thump of a pillow on the back of his head, and Cassie had returned to the bed, shoving at him.

“C’mon, move over you great big miserable lump.”

“Why?” he grumbled, doing it anyway and moving the pillow under his head instead of on top of it.

“Because I’m making sure you get some sleep, duh.” Cassie settled comfortably against his side, cocooning him in blankets and warmth.

It only took a minute before he could feel himself drifting off, lulled into a sense of calm that was edged with anger and sorrow. “Thanks, Cassie…”

“No problem.”

That was the last thing he remembered before his room faded to black.

~~~~~~

 **GG:** _Where r u?_

 **KATIE:** _Running late. Five minutes._

_Had to convince Ted that showers are still mandatory._

**GG:** _lol_

 **GG:** _i see u_

 **KATIE:** _Creep._

“You know you love it.” Cassie was holding out something super dark and super caffeinated, by the smell of it. Kate grasped the paper mug with both hands and inhaled deeply before taking a sip and scooting into the tiny booth.

“Did you put Billy on house arrest or…?”

“Eli’s with him,” she replied, taking a sip of something covered in whipped cream and caramel swirls. “They’re playing video games or something.”

“Eli plays video games?” Kate asked, seeming unconvinced.

The blonde shrugged and wiped a smudge of whipped cream off her nose with the back of her hand. “Or something. I was not informed of the plan.”

“I wound up leaving Ted locked in the apartment with specific instructions not to leave unless it was on fire. Took his phone so he couldn’t make any stupid regret booty-calls.”

Cassie giggled, swirling the remains of her drink in the bottom of the cup. “What about the internet? He can totally FaceBook or Tweet Billy you know.”

“No he can’t.” Kate lifted her purse, opening it just enough so Cassie was able to see the router inside.

“You totally have him on full house arrest!” Cassie laughed, shaking her head and sliding the cup between her hands. Her smile stilled after a moment, wary, before she spoke again. “How’s he doing?”

“Ted? He’s a fucking disaster. He hasn’t exactly been through a real breakup before,” Kate admitted, staring into her own beverage. “And this one sounded messy.”

Sighing, Cassie twisted the cardboard sleeve between her fingers, mangling it. “I was worried about that. Billy can tend to…”

“Overreact? Emotionally explode? Vomit poison? Be a complete asshole?”

“Overthink things,” Cassie replied, leveling a glare at Kate who was choosing to calmly sip her espresso instead of making eye contact. “I think they both kind of jumped to conclusions and anger without actually talking about anything…”

“You think?” Kate offered, raising her brows. She set her coffee on the table before digging around in her purse, moving the router out of the way and pulling out a cell phone. It was ancient, beat to shit, and definitely didn’t belong to her. She slide it across to Cassie. “Look at the outgoing messages. This was before I took it away last night. I didn’t realize that every time I left the room he was sending more.”

Cassie scrolled through the messages, the furrow on her forehead getting deeper the longer she stared. “Shit…”

 **TEDDY:** _I’m sorry._

_I’m so, so sorry._

_I know you don’t want to talk to me._

_Might not ever want to talk to me again._

_But I just need you to know_

_I’m sorry_

_I’m sorry_

_I’m sorry_

_Please reply_

_I don’t want to lose you_

“I didn’t even know…” Realization sprawled over Cassie’s face and she went pale. “Billy doesn’t even know.”

“What?”

“He fried his phone, he was that upset. I’m honestly kind of glad I found him in the morning, I don’t know if I could have talked him down when he was… like that.”

“He lost control again?” Kate was calm, though there was a seed of worry in the twist of her fingers around the paper cup. Cassie had accidentally shared how Billy’s powers manifested, late after the bar one night. It had put one of his classmates in the hospital and caused such an undercurrent of fear, an association of his powers only connected with bad events, that Billy had flat out refused to ever use them again. Sometimes they sparked when he least expected it, due to stress or other emotional strain, but Cassie had never seen him in those situations.

“He didn’t hurt anyone. He just came home. But he… He told me about Teddy,” Cassie moved a speck of sugar around the tabletop with her finger. “I think that’s what set him off.”

“That Ted is kind of different?” There was a growl in Kate’s voice, fierce and protective and angry all at once. Aware of where they were, with strangers milling about, she didn’t bring up more on the subject though part of her was incensed, wanted to scream.

“That he didn’t tell him. That Billy might have never known if he hadn’t… slipped up.”

“Ted would have told him.”

“Would he?” Cassie asked, skeptical as she watched the bit of sugar dissolve in a drop of something on the table.

“Eventually,” Kate answered, no longer sounding as sure as she had before. “Probably…” she whispered, heaving a sigh. “Okay, first order of business is getting William a new phone. Then you can gauge his reactions to Ted’s text spam and we will know where we stand.”

The blonde seemed unsure but nodded along. “And if he gets mad?”

Kate shrugged. “Nothing we can do, they’re over. But if he isn’t…”

“Ooo! Operation ‘get the boys back together’ is in play?” Cassie chimed, wiping her sticky-sweet hands on her jeans.

“Yes, but only if we have something to work with here.” Kate worried the edge of her coffee sleeve, tearing off little bits and putting them in the now-empty cup. “Ted really fell hard for him, you know.”

“I know,” Cassie smiled softly, pulling out her phone and scrolling through the photos.

“And if William doesn’t see it. He’s a damn idiot.”

“I know. But he does. See it, that is.”

Cassie held out her phone, showing Kate the picture she chose to stop on. It was from the morning after the Halloween party, Billy’s hair a twisted mess of dark and his eyes still half-lidded from sleep. There was a coffee mug, bright pink, clutched in his hands while he looked across the table in an almost dream-state. His lips were quirked in a little half-smile, and he appeared calm, at ease in somebody else’s kitchen. Billy was watching someone opposite the table from him, someone not included in the photo.

“Oh,” Kate murmured, realizing that Teddy had been the one across from Billy in this situation, and the look on Billy’s face was so soft it had to be… “Oh. They’re both idiots.”

“Yeah. They just messed up, so it’s up to us to push them back in the right direction.” Cassie was already getting up, collecting the specks of cardboard that had escaped Kate’s fidgeting destruction and dumping them into the empty cups. “Let’s go buy that phone.”


	5. Recovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Billy._
> 
> Feeling the flutter of his heart tumble all the way into his stomach, Teddy mindlessly handed off snacks as Cassie settled herself beside Eli and Kate took the seat beside that one, leaving Teddy to choose between an awkward shuffle to the other end of the row on the off-chance that Billy might actually speak to him; that or he could choose the seat next to Kate. His decision was made for him when Eli nudged the figure alongside him, offering a soda and what appeared to be a bag of gummy candies.
> 
> Billy looked up, met Teddy’s eyes, and the whole world spun and stopped simultaneously. Teddy knew he was all but crushing the chocolate bar in his hands while he tried to keep as calm and steady as possible.
> 
> _Please don’t hate me._
> 
> _Please._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my wonderful readers! Thank you so much for sticking with me, I really do appreciate every bit of love you send my way. If it weren’t for all of you, I am positive I would not be nearly as adept at sticking to my schedule as I am right now.
> 
> Oh gosh, Kuchen you have been so wonderful to put up with all of my whining while you were knee-deep in the course from hell. Thank you!! <3 And Melerune, thank you as always for kicking my butt into gear on a daily basis (it helps that I cannot escape you, even at work, hah!).
> 
> [Please come visit me on tumblr! :)](http://amonaewrites.tumblr.com/) (I do mini-requests and such there.)
> 
> Chapters will update on a regular basis, always the first weekend of every month. I have myself on a pretty strict writing schedule as part of my day-to-day, so the only time chapters will be late is if I’m ill or have other serious obligations.

**_“If you could just give me a sign, just a subtle little glimmer._ **

**_Some suggestion that you'd have me if I could only make me better._ **

**_Then I would stand a little stronger as I walk a little taller, all the time.”_ **

_Recovery by Frank Turner_

 

When morning rolled around, Teddy found neither energy nor willpower to pry himself out of Kate’s spare bed. He stared at the sun rays streaking patterns across the ceiling, lazy dashes of light interrupted by branches, before turning on his side and burying his face in the pillows. They smelled faintly of chamomile, which was entirely his fault, since he’d upended a mug of tea on them at some point last night when Kate finally convinced him to try and get some sleep. A glance towards his watch on the nightstand showed he was most definitely late for work, but there was a note tucked beside it on the dark wood.

_Ted, take a personal day._

_This is not a request._

_You are not to leave the apartment unless it’s an emergency._

_I have your phone. I will deal with Rick._

_-K._  

With a tiny smile he forced himself into a seated position, rolling his head gingerly on taut shoulders and stretching his arms forward. His whole body was stiff, which he mostly blamed on the tension still rushing throughout his muscles after the events of last night.

_Last night…_

Teddy felt his chest constrict and the thundering of his pulse heavy in his throat. It was over, all because he was too afraid to let Billy get close, too afraid to show that side of himself. He should have known it would end up this way, since the truth would have slipped out sooner or later, but he _had_  been planning on telling him eventually. Probably. Kate had taken his phone, but he was certain that there hadn’t been a response to any of his messages. After all, he could still remember every flicker of hurt and anger in those dark eyes.

_I fucked up._

Heaving a sigh, he scrubbed his hands over his face and convinced his feet that they needed to support his weight, though his knees shook from the effort it took to stand. His body was trembling all over again and he felt the edge of a sob shuddering through his chest. Teddy ignored the emotions swelling within him, pushing them away as he stood taller, letting his shoulders take on their usual shape, allowing the subtle lines to come back to his face.

It didn’t matter what he looked like or who he pretended to be, it wouldn’t help his chances with Billy (though at this point, shy of going back in time about two months, he wasn’t sure if anything _could_  help). Forcing himself to keep a neutral expression, Teddy made a beeline for the freezer and pulled the rest of the ‘emergency’ ice cream out, grabbing the largest spoon he was able to find.

If he couldn’t fix things, at least for now, he might as well make himself sick on too much ice cream and cheesy romcoms.

Kate’s selection of DVDs was pathetically small and seriously lacking in genre choices--there seemed to be a lot of movies with explosions or really heavy dramatic plots (neither of which sounded all that appealing at the moment). Teddy made a few attempts to connect to the Netflix server, but that was a lost cause as well (something about the network connection being hazy). So that’s how he found himself digging around the drawers in the TV stand, trying to find something that would allow his brain to be elsewhere while not reminding him of a certain someone at the same time.

He pulled out the box set, stared, flipped it over, read the back, flipped it back over, read the front again, and stared some more. There was no way that this was part of Kate’s collection, it must have been a gag gift or borrowed from a friend or _something_.

Teddy wasn’t able to stifle the giggle that tumbled past his lips. “Oh my god, Kate. You are so never living down your obsession with Oliver Queen.”

At least he knew that Billy would never watch--

Right. Focusing on the explosions and cheesy monologues, he let himself be pulled into the action-drama that was _Arrow_. He managed to complete the first two episodes prior to feeling antsy all over again, wishing he had something to do other than wait for Kate to get home. She had all but banished him to the apartment, leaving neither phone nor internet access available to him.

Not that he expected there would be a difference, even if he did have a way to contact Billy. There had been no response prior to Kate taking his cell, and he knew she would tell him should a text come through (unless it was really awful, which was completely reasonable). Billy probably hated him, or at the very least, was incredibly upset. Neither made him feel any better about the series of events that led to their first fight.

Could he even call it ‘their’ fight? Were they even a couple before it happened? Teddy wasn’t sure anymore, he didn’t know where they stood previously and the ground was pulled from beneath his feet, leaving him grasping for something, _anything_ , to hold on to.

Teddy turned up the volume, trying not to feel the swell of disappointment that was pushing against his ribs from the inside out, threatening to drown him. He returned his attention to the screen, the trajectory of arrows blurry and swimming. Swiping at his eyes with the back of his hand, he made a solid attempt to distract himself with archers and explosions, distinctly not thinking about how badly he had fucked everything up.

_I’m sorry._

_I’m really, **really**  sorry._

~~~~~~

“Here.”

Cassie plunked a frilly gift bag on the side of his desk, which Billy ignored in favor of his homework assignments. Once again, he had been neglecting them to the point where putting it off any longer would be risking a failing grade. When he didn’t make a move towards the purple butterflies and yellow daisies, Cassie shoved it closer with the end of her pencil.

“What is it?” he asked, peering into the pink-hued tissue paper and wrinkling his nose. He was pretty sure it even _smelled_  ridiculously girly.

“A present!” Cassie chimed, turning back to her own homework as though it were the most interesting thing in the world.

“For…?”

“You! Duh. Can’t I just get you a ‘because you’re awesome’ present?”

“Sounds kind of suspicious to me,” he mumbled, tugging out the tissue paper to reveal a smallish box. “My phone?” Billy asked, raising a brow and pulling the device (no more scratches along the back from that one time he threw it at the pavement) from the packaging.

“Ta da! We replaced it for you. Thankfully the sim card and stuff weren’t damaged too badly, so the guy at the store was able to just swap everything out.” Cassie was looking pleased with herself, wriggling on the bed with her homework forgotten on the floor.

“Thanks?” Billy wasn’t entirely sure why she went to the trouble, though he hadn’t been in any condition to leave his room and replace the damn thing himself, so he was grateful despite his suspicion. The day before had consisted mostly of hiding in a fort of blankets while watching old, cheesy science fiction movies that he had already seen a million times. In the dark arms of the shadows, Billy could almost lie to himself and pretend that the night at the club hadn’t happened, and that Teddy probably wouldn’t enjoy these movies anyway, and they wouldn’t both be making fun of the poor attempts at ‘alien’ costumes. Almost.

He pulled out the cords and set it up to charge, turning back to his assignments when he heard a huff from the bed. “Yeah?”

“Turn it ooooon!” she whined, leaning over and prodding the device closer to his elbow.

He heaved a sigh, shaking his head. “It has to fully charge before you just--”

“Oops, my finger slipped!” Cassie was grinning as the logo flashed bright on the screen, letting him know the phone was booting.

Billy ignored it and went back to his work but he was finding it hard to concentrate with the barrage of ‘pings’ coming from the electronic box beside him. “Seriously, Cassie. If this is some kind of prank…” he growled, picking it up and glancing through the notifications. There were several missed calls and texts, many of which were from Cassie trying to locate him after he fled the club, a few from Eli providing the requested clarification on an assignment question, and several more from…

“Teddy.” He hissed a breath between his teeth and stared at the trailing series of messages on the screen with a pit in his stomach. Billy looked over to Cassie, who was no longer grinning like the Cheshire Cat but instead chose to watch him carefully and quietly. “They stopped after that night,” he mumbled, scrolling back through them to be sure. The last text had been received three days ago and they had all been sent in sporadic clusters within a six hour time frame.

_Maybe he gave up on me. Not that I can blame him._

“Kate took his phone away,” she answered softly, tilting her head to try and get a better look into his eyes, but Billy looked away just as quickly.

“Oh,” was all he said in response, putting down the phone and returning to his work. He heard the sigh Cassie huffed from her position on the mattress, but she didn’t press him further. Instead, they worked in the relative silence of the dorm room interrupted only by the occasional shriek down the hall or a thump of bass.

When he was sure Cassie was absorbed in the article she was reading, he picked up the phone as silently as he was able to and slid the lock screen back. Fumbling among his contacts, he made a quick change to a file before setting the phone down again just as quietly. He smiled warmly at the girl curled up in his Hulk blanket, poking her knee with his pen to get her attention.

“Cassie?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

~~~~~~ 

Somehow, Teddy managed to haul himself into work Monday morning and make it through an entire day without crumbling. He had subsequently pushed all his other emotions into lock-down in order to do so, but the only person who even seemed to notice was Kate. She had been gently harassing him about it all week, though she kept the topic delicately away from he-who-shall-not-be-named (which Teddy assumed was for her sake as much as his, she could barely say his name without snarling).

“Hey, Tin Man. You wanna pass me that box? I think it has the noise complaints in it.” His dark-haired partner had taken over the desk, leaving Teddy a small corner to work off of while she pieced together all of their information. Rick had been in earlier to rag on them about their lack of progress again, but all of his words just seemed to roll off Teddy’s shoulders without sticking. Kate had been fuming, but the blond’s mind was elsewhere entirely, drifting somewhere between the ‘what if’s and ‘how to’s of the last few days.

When she didn’t get a reply, Kate made a point of skimming the back of his head with the flat of her palm as she passed. “Hey, wake up a little. No one died.” She fetched the box herself and Teddy offered a sheepish smile in reply. It didn’t reach his eyes.

“Sorry.” He flipped through the catalogue of information on one of the old files (Kate had given him closing reports to catch up on, to keep his mind off the current case), not really acknowledging what he was reading.

“Honestly, you’re impossible,” she huffed and tossed his phone across the desk in his general direction. “Here. You’re off the watch list. Just… try not to text him too much, okay?”

Teddy retrieved his cell, powering it on with a flutter of hope. He didn’t think that Billy would have texted back, he had seemed so furious, so anguished (and Teddy had been the one to cause it), but he couldn’t help clinging to the tiniest shimmer that he _might_  have. The inkling of optimism dissipated when no new messages popped up on the screen. He set the phone on the edge of the desk, not even sure why he let himself get excited in the first place.

“Thanks, Kate.”

“You’re welcome.”

He could tell she was watching him, gauging his reactions carefully, but what else was he able to do? If Billy didn’t want to talk to him, he certainly wasn’t going to force it, there was no point. It would only make things worse between them. (Though at this point, he wasn’t really sure _how_  it could possibly get any worse than it already was.)

Teddy heaved a sigh and signed off on the closing notes he had been working on. “Next file, please.”

Kate handed it to him with a frown, but he focused on the folder instead. His only goal of the day was to bury himself in as many mindless work tasks as he could get his hands on, instead of spending the rest of his waking hours thinking about ‘what if’s.

~~~~~~

**Tuesday, November 10th**   _No New Messages_  

~~~~~~

**Wednesday, November 11th**   _No New Messages_  

~~~~~~ 

Billy picked up his phone, scrolled through his messages, and set it face-down on the desk. He solved three stats equations, picked up his phone, scrolled through his messages, and set it face-down on the desk. He slipped down to the cafeteria for a quick food run, picked up his phone, scrolled through the messages, and settled it back into his pocket.

_Fuck._

A very small part of him wanted to see that little notification pop up on the screen, see that ‘JERKFACE’ was calling just so he could ignore it. A bigger part of him wanted the call to come so he had the opportunity to say all the things he didn’t, all the things he meant to but was finding himself either too high-strung or too upset to get out coherently.

_I’m sorry too._

_I fucked up._

_Can we still be friends?_

_Can I have a do-over?_

When he returned to his room after class, it had become habit to finish whatever homework or assignments he needed to, watch at least twelve episodes of _Star Trek_  on his laptop, and crawl into bed around three in the morning. Wash, rinse, repeat.

He had managed to stave off the majority of Cassie’s attempts to ‘hang out’ by insisting that he had second-round midterms to study for (which was a lie, all of his classes only had one midterm, a final, and a sprinkling of papers this semester). But it was enough to keep her at bay, enough so he wouldn’t have to explain the musty smell of his room, the drawn curtains at all hours, the fact that his hair was greasy from too many days without a shower, or the increasing tower of empty coffee cups bordering the right side of his blanket fort. She still called, several times a day, but Billy mostly ignored the calls and replied only to the texts.

He didn’t trust his voice right now.

Sunday evening, the tight pain that came with rage ebbed and gave way to something deeper, something hard that filled him to the brim with an aching sorrow. It reminded him of being at a funeral, experiencing the kind of loss that comes with love, and Billy didn’t understand. He didn’t understand why he was sobbing into his pillow, hiccoughing quietly so his floormates wouldn’t hear him. He didn’t understand why this arcing shudder was running through his body, current pulsing and sending him over the edge again and again and again until he was filled with an electric pain. He didn’t understand. He was the one who ended it, he decided things would be better for both of them if he just… made it all stop. Full stop. Get off the merry-go-round. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.

So why did it feel like he was mourning?

~~~~~~

**Thursday, November 12th**   _No New Messages_

~~~~~~ 

**Friday, November 13th**   _No New Messages_  

~~~~

Turns out, Teddy spent a whole lot of the following week thinking about the ‘what if’s.

_What if I had told him sooner?_

_What if I never shifted?_

_What if he hates me?_

By the time Friday morning arrived, he could tell Kate was just about at her wit’s end with him. She was moving around the office almost violently, shoving aside boxes and snarling at the dust bunnies that greeted her.

“Where in the seven hells did I put them?!”

“Kate?”

“What!” she snapped, rounding on him with a narrowed gaze. Her brows raised and her expression calmed when she saw the pair of sunglasses in Teddy’s hands. “Seriously? Where were they?”

“On the desk. Right where you left them,” he teased, offering a half-smile that wasn’t quite there, but close enough. Teddy knew she hated when he closed off like this, but it was easier than letting himself tumble back into thinking about what he could have/should have/would have done differently. “Are you okay?”

Kate stared at him as though he’d just asked for the color of Black Widow’s underwear.

“What?” he questioned, frowning a bit while she shuffled a stack of papers back into order.

“I’m the one who should be asking you that,” she chided, leveling a narrow look in his direction, though there was no menace behind it. “You’ve been acting like a zombie since Monday.”

“Have not. A zombie would be much less efficient at filing and filling in blank reports.”

“You know what I mean.” Kate paused in her motions, seeming to have an internal debate before she spoke again. “What are you doing tonight?”

“Tonight?” Friday night, why shouldn’t he have plans the same as any other normal person (didn’t matter that his plans involved massive quantities of junk food and a fantasy movie marathon). “Nothing critical. Why?”

She was being so evasive that Teddy was beginning to get concerned; Kate only hid information when there was something unpleasant about it. “That new action flick releases today and I was thinking of going. It’s kind of pathetic to go alone.”

“What about Eli?” he offered, knowing they had a bit of a thing going on, though neither seemed ready to tell anyone about it.

The look on Kate’s face told him all he needed to know--they’d had another fight. “Yeah, um, no. He’s busy. And Cassie’s got something for drama class.”

He raised a brow and offered a weak smile. “So I’m your last resort?”

“I wouldn’t say that. More like… you’re at the bottom of the totem pole?”

“So much better,” Teddy replied, a twist of sarcasm in his tone.

“Only dress in my size?”

“Now you’re just making stuff up…”

“Best nerd in the world?”

“Okay, now you’re just kissing ass,” he teased, feeling the odd shape of the grin on his face. It had been slightly over a week since he last smiled, _really_  smiled, but he let the expression soften, his chest feeling lighter. “Fine, I’ll go with you. But you asked, so you get to pay for the date.”

“Deal,” Kate replied, beaming at him over her stack of paperwork. “I’ll pick you up at seven.”

Teddy found it difficult to ignore the feeling of unease still stirring at the back of his mind, but he brushed it off as a side-effect of the date. After all, what could possibly go wrong on Friday the 13th?

~~~~~~

**CASSIE:**   _Hey u home?_

**BILLY:**   _Ya, studying. why?_

**CASSIE:** _coming 2 kidnap u_

**BILLY:**   _No_

_Seriously Cassie, I’m busy. Don’t wanna go out._

_U better not be on the train_

**CASSIE:**   _nope just got off the train_

_Eli’s coming 2_

_So no excuses_

**BILLY:** _no_

_srsly no_

_I don’t feel good_

**CASSIE:**   _fine on my way up_

Billy groaned and stuffed his phone under the pillow, half-heartedly glancing towards the door to see if it was locked. He wasn’t able to tell, and had very little motivation to drag himself out of bed to check properly, so he just hoped it would be and that Cassie would knock and go away. There were dark circles under his eyes, and he was pretty sure they were bloodshot--partially due to staying up too late watching TV before hauling all the blankets of his fort onto the bed, definitely not crying for another hour or two prior to passing out (he couldn’t really qualify it as sleep if he didn’t make a conscious effort for it to happen).

He heard the footsteps, followed by Cassie’s laughter, as they approached his door. Turning his face away, Billy made every attempt to lay still, to look as though he had fallen asleep.

_Please let the fucking door be locked…_

The blonde flung open the door, letting it slam into the wall and bounce with the momentum before she flicked on the lights and entered the room.

“C’mon sad-sack, time to go.” Cassie was rustling around his room, kicking abandoned clothes towards the laundry hamper and throwing back the shades. The sun was like a thousand different types of hell, searing through his eyelids and causing the ache in his brain to throb, flaring up anew.

“Seriously, don’t you knock? Like, ever?” Billy complained, burying his face into the heaping pile of blankets he’d managed to cocoon around his head.

“I totally knock! All the time!” she insisted, perching her butt on the edge of the mattress and rapping hard at the bed frame beside his head. “See? Knock, knock, sleepy-head! Time to get up and greet the day!”

There was a growl from beneath the sheets. He could feel Eli settle on the other side of the bed, much more gently than Cassie had, and he felt the warmth of a palm against his shoulder. “Cassie, maybe he’s actually sick. You shouldn’t be so loud.”

“He’s not sick!” Billy heard the disgruntled pout in her voice, and it almost brought the hint of a smile to his lips. Almost. The sheets were pulled back in a sudden burst, and he had to squint against the onslaught of light. “See! He’s not sick! Just kind of… ew, Billy when did you have a shower last?”

Glancing up at her with narrowed eyes, he tried to snag the edge of the blankets back so he could return to burrowing beneath them. No such luck. “I dunno… Tuesday maybe?”

He saw Cassie wrinkling her nose through his slitted gaze. “Shower. Now. Don’t make me get Eli to dump you in there.”

“Eli wouldn’t.” Billy rolled his head so he was looking at his other, much more reasonable, friend. “Right?”

Eli’s mouth was twisted into a frown, the kind that meant he wasn’t going to budge an inch from whatever decision was brewing in his skull. “Yeah, no. You totally smell like someone who has been living in a gutter for a week. Even if you are sick, you’ll feel better after a shower.”

“Traitor,” he grumbled, trying to slip back under the pillows but Cassie just yanked the whole lot off the bed, knocking over his coffee cup ‘sculpture’ in the process.

“Up, mister!” she shouted, hands on her hips and a glare plastered across her face.

Most people would have left him alone by now, left him to wallow in his own self-misery and stay locked up in his room for as long as he saw fit, but these two… Okay, these two might be the best friends he could ask for (though he didn’t feel as though he were worth the effort at the current moment). “Okay, okay,” Billy sighed, slowly crawling his way out of the bed while Cassie shoved a fresh set of clothes at him and Eli handed him a towel.

“Meet us back here in twenty minutes, max. We’re going to see ‘ _Skullcrusher IV_.’”

Billy glanced at Eli for confirmation of the plans and the other just shrugged. “I don’t even know. It was her turn to pick, so we don’t really have a leg to stand on.”

“Yeah, not after I had to sit through some weird, poetry murder circle movie…”

“ _Kill Your Darlings_  was _good_ , Cassie,” Eli protested, a wrinkle marring his forehead as his brows surged towards the bridge of his nose.

“...And some _Butterfly Effect_  wanna-be…”

“ _Project Almanac_  was awesome! You couldn’t stop talking about it for a week after!” Billy insisted, halfway out his dorm-room door while he vocalized his protests.

“Go, shower. Then we’re going to a REAL movie.”

Billy exchanged a look with Eli before leaving the room, and Eli lifted his shoulders in response to the silent _do I really have to?_  that Billy was shooting his way.

He made sure to shoot a scowl in Cassie’s direction as he left the room, but she was distracted, huddled near Eli and whispering in hushed tones. Damn it. At least no one would be able to see how shitty he looked (and felt) in a darkened theater.

~~~~~~ 

“Kate…” Teddy grit his teeth as he hissed through them, watching the energetic young blonde wave from the ticket booth. “I thought you said Cassie had a thing.”

“She did. It must have been cancelled,” Kate provided as she waved back and joined her friend.

Teddy lingered away from the pair for a moment, feeling the familiar churn in his stomach that meant he was either going to be sick or bolt at the slightest indication that there was trouble. If Cassie was here, did that mean…?

_No. Don’t get your hopes up._

Taking a deep breath immediately sent him into a coughing fit as the icy air and exhaust combo outside the theatre overwhelmed him. Teddy managed to get a hold of himself and joined the girls at the ticket booth, only to find Kate had already purchased his.

“You’re my date, remember?” she provided in answer to his questioning look before looping an arm about the crook of his elbow.

“Right,” he whispered with a hint of a sigh. “Hey, Cassie. Got all the stuff done for drama?”

“Drama?” Teddy didn’t miss the confusion in her expression nor the look that Kate shot her. “Oh! Yeah, we were just painting some backdrops and we finished up early,” she chirped, convincingly enough that he let it slide.

Since Kate and Cassie convinced him that they needed one of everything from the concession, Teddy found himself juggling bags of candy and popcorn while they meandered towards the appropriate theater. He thought the girls might have gone a little bit overboard until they led him towards their seats, where Eli gave a small wave. Teddy was about to be upset with Kate all over again when he saw the hunch of another person next to Eli, buried in a red hoodie and keeping all attention trained on the glow of his phone screen.

_Billy._

Feeling the flutter of his heart tumble all the way into his stomach, Teddy mindlessly handed off snacks as Cassie settled herself beside Eli and Kate took the seat beside that one, leaving Teddy to choose between an awkward shuffle to the other end of the row on the off-chance that Billy might actually speak to him; that or he could choose the seat next to Kate. His decision was made for him when Eli nudged the figure alongside him, offering a soda and what appeared to be a bag of gummy candies.

Billy looked up, met Teddy’s eyes, and the whole world spun and stopped simultaneously. Teddy knew he was all but crushing the chocolate bar in his hands while he tried to keep as calm and steady as possible.

_Please don’t hate me._

_Please._

His heart sank when Billy’s expression went from shock to a torrent of flushed embarrassment and anger, his attention immediately going back to his cell phone once he had snagged the items from Eli’s hands, not even bothering with a ‘thank you.’ Teddy slumped into the seat beside Kate, feeling dejected and wondering if it was too late to crawl back home and hide under every available blanket. He knew this had been Kate’s attempt to get them back on speaking terms, but it didn’t seem like Billy was ready to even look at Teddy, let alone speak to him any time soon.

When the lights finally dimmed and the first trailer started, Teddy felt himself relaxing into the squishy cushions of the theater chair. His loafers stuck to the floor, years of pop and grease morphing the cement into a new tacky substance altogether. In the dark, with the level of volume approaching absurdity during the big action scenes, he could pretend that it really was just him and Kate and that everything was completely normal. But everything wasn’t normal, and even though he was trying to keep his focus on the bright flashes of color on-screen, Teddy found himself fidgeting in his seat while his stomach twisted into a thousand new pretzel formations. He was debating sneaking away when his phone buzzed obnoxiously from his jeans, causing a frantic retrieval effort before it made any more noise.

Teddy planned to turn it off, just in case he decided to stay through a movie he probably wouldn’t remember anyway. He _planned_  to just let the damn thing go to sleep for a few hours so maybe he could forget about his outgoing messages, all the ones that were unsent. He **_planned_ ** to do a lot of things until he saw the name on his notification screen.

He glanced to the end of their group where the young man was still crouched in his chair, knees up against his chest and a bag of popcorn in his hands, acting as though nothing had happened. Teddy checked the text again.

**BILLY:**   _Hi_

Teddy tried to catch the other’s eye, to see if he really had sent the text or if someone was messing with him. Frowning, he fired off a quick response and kept the edge of his vision trained on Billy to see if he would go for his phone. Sure enough, a few seconds later he heard a quiet ‘ping’ and watched lithe fingers root around in the hoodie pockets before pulling out a cell. Teddy made sure to slide his eyes back to the movie screen when Billy made to look his way. His gut was a frenzied bundle of nerves, twisting and pulling and tearing him in a million different directions. What if Billy was just being polite? What if he just wanted to be friends? Teddy wasn’t sure he would be able to do that, wasn’t sure he could force his emotions back when they were still so raw, so new. He didn’t know if he could reset his heart.

There were three quick buzzes from his pocket and Teddy risked a glance down the row of theater seats prior to retrieving his phone. He met Billy’s gaze, tentative and unsure, but a half-smile was working its way onto lips cast in sunset tones from the movie. Teddy tried to force the turbulent feelings from his chest, twisting his mouth into what he hoped was a return smile when all he felt was a giddy confusion. He broke away and pulled out his cell, scrolling through the messages with shaking fingers.

**TEDDY:**   _Hi_

**BILLY:**   _I’m sorry._

_I fucked up._

_Is it too much to ask for a mulligan?_

Billy was looking towards him, worrying his lower lip between his teeth and clutching at his phone as though it were the only thing tethering him to this moment. Feeling the weight that had been pressing in his chest ease up, Teddy offered him a softer grin, something smaller but real, so much more real than anything he’d been feeling this past week.

_Maybe it wasn’t too late to fix this._

**TEDDY:**   _I don’t know, is there a statute of limitations on an apology?_

_I’m kidding._

_I’m still sorry for… for everything. I fucked up too._

**BILLY:**   _No, you’re awesome._

_I’m just a loser who can’t keep his brain from being stupid._

_I’m stupid._

**TEDDY:**   _You’re not stupid._

_You’re perfect._

Teddy heard the strangled splutter from the end of the row, followed by Cassie’s worried tone and Billy promptly waving her off. Their eyes met again, dark pools captivating him, making him wish he’d chosen the other seat. Teddy was pretty sure he saw a flush spreading across pale cheeks, even in the dim light. They refocused on the movie, Teddy noting the disgruntled cough of a fellow theater patron behind them.

**Ping!**  

Fumbling for his cell again, Teddy cursed quietly and muted it in a hurry before shooting off another reply. He could hear the text alerts sounding off on Billy’s end, and he amended his latest string of messages.

**BILLY:**   _Coming from you, MR. PERFECT, I don’t know if that’s legit._

_But I’ll accept it._

_Doesn’t mean I have to believe it._

**TEDDY:**   _I’ll prove it to you. Sometime._

_On a scale of one to ten, how is this movie?_

**BILLY:**   _Srsly?_

_Like… maybe a 2?_

_What even is this?_

_How were there 3 movies before this?_

**TEDDY:**   _No idea._

_Turn off your sound._

_Dude behind us is totally getting pissed._

**BILLY:**   _What’s he gonna do?_

_Kick us out?_

_Is he the movie police or something?_

**TEDDY:**   _Billy…_

**BILLY:**   _You know, warning tones definitely don’t come across in text._

_Shit._

Glancing up from the tiny screen in his lap, tucked behind a folded leg to try and be as un-obnoxious as possible, Teddy saw an usher speaking in hushed (but very irate) tones to an apologetic Billy. Before Cassie could convince the man otherwise, Billy was being led by the elbow from the theater, giving a shrug and a crooked smile over his shoulder. He was halfway out of his seat until he glanced down at Kate, momentarily torn.

She was staring at him with that look, the one she used when he asked a question that she had already answered a million times (such as ‘where did we put the Coleman file’ when it was right under his nose). ‘Go,’ she mouthed, looking somewhere between annoyed and smug.

“Thanks,” he whispered, giving a quick wave to Cassie and Eli before he slipped into the aisle and out of the theater. Teddy was pretty sure he saw money exchanging hands, moving down the line to Kate’s open palm. He ignored it, darting into the lobby in search of a crimson hoodie.

~~~~~~ 

_Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit._

Billy was silently berating himself as he paced the theater lobby, his pulse racing just under the surface, a strange flutter filling his ribcage. He had sent a ‘sorry’ text to the group and a ‘super sorry I’m a giant loser-dork’ text to Teddy, but none of them had replied; reasonable, since he’d just gotten _kicked out_  of the movie for texting--seriously, who actually kicked people out? He had a feeling it was because of that complete jerk seated behind them, the same guy who totally kept kicking his seat (looking back, he might have been kicking Billy’s seat to get him to _stop_  texting, but who knew what Grumpy-McAngry-Pants had been thinking).

He was prepared to pace a hole through the ugly lobby carpet (possibly the most hideous thing he’d seen since the couch at his great-grandmother’s place), when he saw a familiar mop of blond hair making its way past the confection counter.

Billy tried to stifle the grin that was splashing across his face, though it was a losing battle the second Teddy met his eyes and offered a half-wave and a sheepish smile of his own.

_I must be dreaming. I passed out in the shower, and I’m so delirious from a caffeine-only diet that I’m dreaming this whole thing. Totally dreaming._

“Hi,” dream-Teddy said, voice quiet even though they could probably talk at a normal volume out here without anyone shooting them dirty looks.

“Hi,” he replied, scruffing a hand amongst the snarls of espresso curls. He was wishing that he’d bothered to run a comb through it today, or maybe yesterday, or the day before… “So, uh, did you get kicked out too? Sorry… I should have turned off the volume but I was worried I wouldn’t see your replies right away if I did so… I’m rambling, right? I’m totally rambling.”

Billy’s eyes darted to the horrible, _heinous_  carpet in order to hide the blush working its way over his features with rapid time. He was pretty sure his ears were red, and he probably looked like the biggest dork in the entire universe. Was Teddy still there? Did he walk away, embarrassed to be seen with him?

“Billy.” The sound of _something_ , something soft and subtle and oh-so-pressing in Teddy’s voice was enough to send a shudder down his spine, and Billy couldn’t seem to get his mouth to work properly. He was pretty sure he made an affirmative noise of sorts, because Teddy kept talking in that low tone. “I’m really sorry about everything. I want to explain, properly this time, if that’s okay? Maybe we can go somewhere a little less… crowded and talk this through?”

Billy finally managed to convince himself that his face probably wasn’t _too_  red (it was), and that his heart wasn’t smashing against his chest loud enough for everyone to hear (it wasn’t), and that he could definitely look up from the gross floor. When he did, he met the bright pools of emotion that were Teddy’s eyes and it almost took his breath away. Sure, Teddy hadn’t been completely stone-faced the whole time they had been hanging out in the past, but it was only in this moment that Billy was able to see how much he had been holding back, how much he would have been controlling every feeling that fluttered freely across Billy’s own features.

He didn’t know whether to be amazed or angry, but he decided that there had been enough anger for now.

_Don’t let me mess this up again._

Teddy was waiting for an answer, his hopeful look starting to dissolve into dismay and fear. “I mean, it’s cool if you don’t want to talk. I just… I thought…” He was floundering now, stacking his barrier back up as protection, and Billy saw him starting to fold away, disappear behind that _other_  face. It made his chest constrict against a shuddering heartbeat.

Lithe fingers shot out to wrap around Teddy’s hand, the one that wasn’t pressing hard to the back of a his neck, and Billy squeezed hard. “No. I want to talk. If… If you’ll let me.”

_Let me fix this. Let me at least try._

_Please, please, please…_

“Is it okay if we get out of here, maybe find somewhere we can talk a little more... privately?” Teddy asked, the barest hint of a peachy flush spiraling across his cheeks, the sight of which sent Billy's heart into a frantic tailspin.

“Y-yeah!” he almost-shouted, sliding his eyes back to the flooring to keep the embarrassed blush from making itself _too_  obvious. “I mean, yeah. Yeah, that sounds... awesome.”

The blond nudged at his shoulder, and Billy glanced up with a quirk of his lips. Teddy was beaming, and Billy found himself wondering how he had ever thought that it was a good idea to let this go.

“I think I saw a coffee shop on the next block. I'll just text Kate and let her know we're bailing.”

“Yeah, okay.” Billy pulled out his own phone to shoot a quick message to Cassie and Eli, letting them know the plan and that no, he hadn't been abducted by aliens and didn't need a rescue.

“And then we can maybe... figure this out.” Teddy's voice was strained, and when dark eyes glanced up from the text he was sending, he saw the edge of a sad grin on chiseled features.

_Figure it out?_

Billy felt his stomach sinking as the nerves piled up, worrying at the corners of his mind. If they still hadn't resolved the issue they had, maybe they couldn't work it out. Maybe this wouldn't work, maybe Teddy would leave, maybe...

“Billy?”

Teddy was close. _Really_  close. Like, hello, I can see every individual eyelash close. Billy wasn't sure whether he wanted to move forward or back, so he settled for rocking back on his heels while he got lost in the emotion pouring through deep, blue eyes. It was overwhelming, after feeling as though the other had been holding back for so long, to see flashes of hope, fear, and so much warmth filling the panels of Teddy's face. There was a shudder in his chest, fighting itself free, and Billy mustered up enough courage to reach out and twist his fingers between Teddy's.

“Yeah,” he answered, smiling. “Yeah, let's go talk. Because we're totally grown-ups.”

“You're wearing a Flash Gordon hoodie.”

“Shush, Flash is totally a grown-up too.”

Teddy was laughing.

God, he missed that sound.

~~~~~~ 

His brain was having a hard time keeping up. Things were good in the theater, they seemed like they were at least getting sociable again, but then Billy went quiet when he mentioned talking things out and Teddy panicked. He didn't want to go back to how things were before, didn't want to chase Billy away again when they'd just started patching things up, so he did the only thing that was logical—keeping secrets hadn't helped, and Billy obviously didn't approve of the shape shifting, so Teddy had just... opened up. He took down the barriers, the walls he kept built up so high, so formidable they were practically second-nature to him at this point. He destroyed everything he had learned over the years to create, to form in order to protect himself.

And now Billy was holding his hand.

He was holding Teddy's hand and they were talking and things were good.

Well, Billy was talking, and it wasn't exactly about _them_  so much as it was about the abomination that was the latest Green Lantern issue. But it didn't matter, because it felt so _right_ , being here with Billy, listening to him fume and vent, his captive limb occasionally being dragged along into an elaborate snarl of a hand gesture.

Before he realized it, they were settled on a narrow bench in the chilly November air, coffee clutched between frigid digits. Neither of them were talking, though Billy seemed focused on inhaling his coffee as quickly as possible without burning his mouth into oblivion. Teddy twisted the edge of the plastic lid between his fingers, warping the shape of it and trying to find a place to start.

“It was... easier, at first. To be someone else,” he whispered, noting the stillness that shuffled through the other once he started speaking. “I wasn't exactly popular at school, never had been. I was that weird, artsy kid who sat at the back of the lunchroom with no friends. And then I met Greg. And he said we were going to be friends. I didn't understand what that would mean, but it played out like most of those childhood relationships, I guess.”

_What the hell, Altman? You fucking **freak**._

Teddy drew in a shuddering breath. He didn't want to be thinking of Greg, not after all this time, all of these years when the wounds had finally stopped feeling raw and itchy. The old scars stretched at the thought of eyes filled with so much anger, the guttural snarl that came with a rejection of opinion. Billy's fingers found his where they were distractedly mangling the coffee lid, and settled with the gentle reassurance that he was doing the right thing.

The words came more efficiently after that, with the quiet, steady presence at his side. Nothing at all like the judgment he had received in the past. “He found out I could shift, and before I knew it, he was... he was getting me to look like, to _be_  people. And not just regular people...”

“The Avengers,” Billy said, giving his fingers a soft squeeze.

“Yeah. Anyone famous, really. He'd have me trussed up like Tony Stark at some red carpet event, or out signing autographs in front of the Rockefeller Center as Johnny Storm. It was horrible, I mean, I know it was horrible. But at the same time, it just felt so... so _good_  to be someone else. Someone who people looked up to, who people admired, who people wanted to be.”

Teddy huffed, taking a sip of his coffee and twining his free hand with Billy's again prior to offering a weak smile.

“It was all a lie though, and after a while, I got sick of pretending to be someone I'm not. I got tired of being Spider Man or Tony Stark or Captain America. I wanted to be me. Greg didn't. He didn't want to be friends with a nobody from Brooklyn. He wanted to be a somebody, and the only way he was going to get that is if I was going to get him there. I didn't want to anymore, so we called it off. I went back to having no friends, and he went back to being a complete asshole to me.

“So after school I went into training for the NYPD, hoping to get into the investigative division as soon as possible. I don't know, maybe I thought I could make a difference that way, maybe I was just trying to be a different version of me, or find out who I really was. Then I met Kate, and we hatched up a scheme to move through the system faster, and it worked. With her connections and my altered age, it wasn't difficult to get people to take us a little more seriously.

“And I guess... I'm just sorry. I'm sorry I didn't tell you all of this before but it... it didn't really come up, you know?” Teddy offered a wispy grin, letting his eyes slide to meet Billy's, trying to gauge the reaction in the moments before it hit. He didn't expect to see guilt there and the student tore away from his gaze without Teddy able to analyze it further. “Billy?”

“I... I didn't have any right to be upset with you for hiding that. I really, _really_  didn't and I'm sorry. Guess I'm kind of a hypocrite.” Billy laughed, but it was nervous and his hands were trembling softly where he clutched at the empty cardboard shell of his cup.

“It's okay if you don't want to talk about it...” he whispered, reaching out and brushing a dark curl from the shell of a pale ear.

Billy shivered, though it may have been from the cold. “No, I want to... I want to tell you. It's important I tell you, and then you might... you might forgive me for how I... overreacted.”

Teddy nodded, knowing words wouldn’t help at this point, and he settled his hand gingerly on the young man's knee, thumb brushing soothing lines of repetition against the denim. Billy seemed to relax, though his hands still mauled the remains of his coffee cup.

Heaving a huge sigh, Billy spoke quickly, all-at-once. “IhavelightningpowersorsomethinglikeThorbutnotlikeThorandIalmostkilledsomeonewiththemsonowIdon'tusethematallandCassiesaysthat'swhyI'msuchapower-phobe.”

Teddy blinked, staring at Billy who was adamantly looking anywhere else. “Woah,” he mumbled, leaning so their shoulders were settled together. The silence stretched between them, Teddy processing the information while he felt the other beside him tense. “So... I guess now would be an opportune time to start up an underground superhero fighting ring, right?”

“Ha, ha. You're hilarious,” Billy teased, leaning back into the gentle touch, and that was enough to make Teddy's chest fill to bursting. This. If he could just have this, it would almost be enough.

“Yup. I'm the funniest guy you know.”

“Nah. Eli's a riot.”

He turned to stare quizzically at pale features, twisted into a smirk that was trying too hard to hide the laughter threatening to bubble past the surface. Teddy wasn’t able to help himself, his shoulders were already shaking with the effort of keeping it all in, so he tossed back his head and laughed. It was loud, and more than a little obnoxious, and he was pretty sure he was wheezing, but it was _real_. All of a sudden, everything was filled with a crystal clarity that brought color to his cheeks and built a fluttering in his breast.

Billy was here. And there were laughing. And things were _good_. Real, and good, and wonderful.

~~~~~~ 

Once Ted left the theater, things got... weird. Cassie was whispered excitedly about the movie, alternating between Kate and Eli, but Kate found herself listening less and less and wondering more and more why she was forcing herself to sit through this drivel.

Point A: Ted had gone after Billy, which meant they were back on speaking terms (at least in the form of electronic blips). As that was the whole point of the 'exercise,' Kate wasn't sure why she still needed to be here.

Point B: Cassie had put off finishing her paper to come, and Kate knew that she hated to fall behind on anything school-related.

Point C: At the current moment, Kate was not on speaking terms with Eli. (Obviously the least important point, as it's last.)

At a few intervals during the movie, she caught his eye while Cassie was passing snacks or explaining a particularly thrilling on-screen moment. She ignored him. Ignored that stubborn, questioning look, the one that meant he probably wanted to talk. Talking wasn't going to get them anywhere, talking leads to arguments which leads to screaming which leads to a huge fucking fight that the whole building can hear until Eli's neighbors are banging on the door and yelling about how they're calling the cops.

The last thing she needs is her co-workers from the precinct showing up and hauling her away because she may or may not have broken a few teeny tiny items. Like an XBOX. And a few dishes. But the table was completely on Eli, so it wasn't as though she were the only one pulling a Godzilla.

So sitting at the movies, with only a Cassie-sized buffer zone between herself and another huge fight (in public, no less), Kate was considerably less than thrilled--she was even less so when the blonde excused herself to use the washroom at the tail end of the movie. That stunt left the credits rolling, and the awkward silence rolling right along with them.

“Well,” she said, standing and brushing the invisible lint from her jeans. “I'm leaving.”

“Kate.”

“Nope, sorry. Don't care.”

“Kate, seriously. Don't be like this.” She was leaving the theater and _god damn it_  if he wasn't following her, trailing doggedly at her heels.

“Don't be like _what_? Oh, I know, don't be such a _bitch_ , right Eli?”

She turned, sharply, dark hair billowing in an arc, eyes flashing with anger. Eli stopped, a frown marring his features, but the usual bite wasn't there when he spoke. “I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that.”

“No, no you shouldn't have.”

“I was angry.”

“Yeah, I got that.”

“But so were you,” he pointed out, folding his arms across his chest and taking a defensive stance. “We had a _fight_ , Kate. Lots of people fight.”

Kate furrowed her brows. “Usually people don't threaten to call the cops over a little fight.”

“Well maybe if you hadn't started smashing plates and shit—no, you know what, no. We're just going to start fighting again if we do this. Can we just, not?”

“My thoughts exactly.” She glanced away. There was something irritating her eyes, a burning that was refusing to go away, no matter how much she blinked.

“That's not what I mean!” Eli protested, his voice echoing in the lobby, a few people slowing to stare at them. Great, now they were the center of attention in a packed theater.

“That's not what I mean,” he tried again, softer. “I want to make this work. I want to make us work. But I can't, not if you don't help me.”

Kate looked over her shoulder at him, at the fists clenching and unclenching at his sides as he tried to gain purchase on his emotions, already so close to the surface, so close to boiling over. He was trying, she could give him that.

“Yeah. Okay. Let's try again,” she answered, tucking her arm around his and pulling him close, a distraction from the eruption, if anything.

Eli stopped bristling, his shoulders losing some tension as he relaxed against her side. “Thanks.”

“Don't mention it. Oh, look. There's Cassie,” she replied blandly.

_I'm going to murder that girl._

~~~~~~ 

“Billy, will you go out with me?”

He had to stop himself from inhaling his tongue as he choked on the first bite of hot dog, feeling it struggle around his esophagus before he finally managed to swallow. Teddy was thumping him on the back, but it wasn't helping the coughing fit or the streaks of red staining his cheeks. “W-what?” he managed to wheeze after a few moments of coaxing his lungs to remember how breathing worked.

Teddy was smiling, though he had a look of concern blooming across his face. “Do you want to go out with me? As in a date?”

“Are you asking me to go steady?” he teased, finding his ability to snark undamaged by the near-death coughing fit.

“Yes.”

Billy was pretty sure his eyes were bugging out, but Teddy didn't seem to notice, he was too busy moving his attention elsewhere in an attempt to hide the blush flourishing on his cheeks. Words were tumbling over each other in his brain, fighting to be the first past the gate.

_Yes._

_Holy shit._

_I love you._

_Yes, yes, yes!_

“Oh.” _Great, Billy. Excellent choice of words. You are a master wordsmith._

“If you... want to,” Teddy mumbled, and he could already see the other deflating, losing the excitement he had only moments before.

_Stupid, Billy. Stupid._

“Yes! I mean, um, yes. I... I want to go out with you. On a date. A date-date. Like, flowers, dinner, all that romantic jazz. Oh, unless you don’t like that stuff, then we can totally go low-key, ‘cause you know, I don’t really know if I like all that romantic shit anyway and--”

“Billy.” Teddy’s voice was soft, though a little stern with a hint of teasing, and there was a smile curving at the corners of his lips.

“Yes?” He wasn’t squeaking, totally wasn’t squeaking. While on the point of things he totally _wasn’t_  doing, he wasn’t blushing a thousand shades of red either.

Teddy’s palm moved to brush against his cheek, cupping along the hard line of his jaw, smoothing at pale skin rapidly turning an even darker crimson. It took a few moments for Billy to work up the courage to raise his eyes, and only when he met the other’s did Teddy start to speak again.

“Will you do me the honor of going out with me tomorrow? I’ll pick you up at three?”

Billy watched as the blond fidgeted, waiting uneasily for an answer. His blue eyes darted elsewhere, lip snagging between his teeth, and he could see how nervous Teddy was. It was almost as if he thought Billy might actually say no.

“Sure,” he whispered, trying to come across as nonchalant but hitting somewhere just shy of lovestruck teenager, voice crackling and everything. Teddy beamed at him and Billy thought his heart were about to burst from his chest, it was beating so loud.

Of course that’s when someone cleared their throat right over his shoulder.

Billy jumped, swiveling to meet Cassie’s smirk and feeling his face flood with color. “W-what are you guys doing here?” he asked, covering a cough as an attempt to keep his eyes scaled downwards.

“Movie’s over,” she insisted, sidling onto the bench next to Billy, nudging him closer to the detective’s warm mass. “So… how was getting kicking out of the movie?” Cassie was waggling her eyebrows at them, and he watched Teddy’s cheeks flush with a hint of peach as the blond turned his head away from them.

“Fine. Where did you ditch the other two you psychopath?” he asked, shoving at her playfully and glancing at Teddy from the corner of his eye. Oh, good. There was a smile tugging at the edges of his lips, which means Cassie’s interruption hadn’t _completely_  ruined everything.

He was still debating on strangling her, though.

“They’re coming. They stopped to get a coffee and ‘talk.’” Her fingers jerked up into air quotes, and that got Teddy’s attention.

“Talk? Did they make up, then?” he asked, flush already gone from the panels of his face. Billy envied his ability at that moment, when he was pretty sure his skin was still pink all the way down the back of his neck.

Cassie shrugged. “I guess so? I mean, I can never tell with those two. One minute they’re fighting, the next minute…”

“They’re fighting,” Billy added, and the trio broke into giggles on the park bench. Sneaking another look at Teddy and catching his gaze made his thundering heartbeat sing.

Part of him still wasn’t able to believe this was happening, still wanted to think that he was back in his room and this was all just a really good, caffeine-riddled dream. But Teddy smiled when their eyes met, and everything just kind of felt _right_.

~~~~~~ 

“Who’s fighting now?”

Teddy snapped his mouth shut and tried to work away the grin on his lips, though he only succeeded in making it look more like a grimace than anything else. He tore his eyes away from Billy’s to look at the approaching couple, noting Kate’s arm linked through the crook of Eli’s elbow. Okay, that was new--they were obviously back on good terms.

“No one,” Cassie chirped when the boys beside her didn’t seem inclined to respond.

Allowing himself a brief moment to squeeze Billy’s knee, a quick _are we still okay?_  that received a dazzling smile in response, Teddy stood. “So, how was the second half of the movie?”

“Horrifically predictable,” Kate insisted, as though she had expected as much.

“Awesome!” Cassie shouted immediately, trying to overwhelm Kate’s answer with sheer volume.

Eli shrugged his shoulders, sharing a quick look with Billy, a silent conversation passing between them that Teddy couldn’t quite pick up on.

“So!” Billy, stood, dusting off his jeans for good measure. “Now that we’ve got the gang back together, what’s the plan?”

“Well my vote is on going somewhere warm. It’s fucking freezing out here,” Kate hissed, moving closer to Eli (which Teddy suspected was a ploy to steal his warmth).

The group bantered in an attempt to make a decision on where they should go; Cassie insisted they go shopping (eliciting a groan from the men in the group), Eli recommended a book store (veto’d by Kate due to the fact that they would all be split up into their own sections there), and Kate mentioned returning to her place (but no one wanted to impose, and Cassie didn’t want to feel like a ‘fifth wheel’ among the two couples). Teddy glanced to the dark-haired young man, who at some point during the conversation had sidled up against him, winding pale digits through his.

Billy offered him a sly grin before he spoke up. “Hey, I have an idea. There’s an arcade not too far from here…”

Cassie made an exasperated noise that sounded somewhere between a whine and a growl. “Billy! No one wants to play your nerd games for the rest of the--”

“They have _DDR_.”

“Sold! Kate, you in?”

“Do I have to?” Teddy met her eyes and smiled encouragingly, which apparently was enough for Kate to huff and fold her arms across her chest. “Fine, I guess it will at least be warm.”

“Eli, I bet I can totally kick your ass at _Zombie Nightmare VIII_ ,” Billy boasted, tugging Teddy along the icy pathways as the group made their way to the shelter and warmth of the arcade.

It was a tiny building, tucked away among curio shops and hole-in-the-wall restaurants--the kind of place that didn’t get a lot of attention unless you knew what you were looking for. The sun was already dipping low in the sky by the time they got there, but that didn’t seem to deter Eli or Billy, who were both gunning for the first FPS they could wager their manhood on. Cassie was distracted by a crane game on the way in, and Kate motioned towards Teddy and then to a racing game. He followed, sliding into the covered space and moving to toss some coins into the slot. Her hand stopped him, gentle, resting across the back of his knuckles.

“Kate?” he muttered, brows knitting together in the dimly flashing light from the standby screen. “What’s wrong?”

She moved her hand from his, twisting her fingers between the tangled ends of her hair as a distraction, a way to not look at Teddy’s face when she spoke. “So you and William…?”

Teddy felt his heart lurch with the tone in her voice, the way she said his name--she was still upset, then, with Billy. He wrapped his arms around the false steering wheel, leaning back into the blocky plastic of the racing seat. Part of the excited flickering in his chest dulled as he let his mind run through the logical side of things, trying to see it from Kate’s perspective. She was always so cautious about these things, and in all of her relationships, Teddy had never known her to get back with someone who ended it. She probably thought he’d gone crazy.

“Yeah… We, we’re working it out,” he whispered, smoothing his thumb over the ridge of the wheel, rolling around the shape of a bolt. “No more guessing on what we are to each other. Or at least, I hope not. I’m taking him on a date tomorrow.”

“A proper date?” she asked, raising a brow skeptically, though he saw her lips twitching towards a smile.

“Yes, a proper date,” he replied, rolling his eyes.

“Good,” Kate murmured, shifting to rummage around in her purse. “You’ll need these then.”

Teddy stared at her outstretched hand in confusion, pulling the slips of paper from her and flipping them over. “Movie tickets?”

“Uh huh, for that little theater off Broadway. Cassie says it’s one of his favorites.” She wasn’t looking at him, and Teddy was almost sure he could see an uncomfortable flush rolling up her cheeks. “I mean, you don’t have to go. I just thought--”

“Did you have these all week?” he queried, examining the slightly tattered edges of the tickets; they must have been sitting in her bag for a long time.

“Maybe.”

Teddy grinned. “You _like_  him.”

“No, actually, I think that’s your job,” she answered, exasperated as she rolled her face towards him. “Now shut up and go play stupid video games with your _boyfriend_.”

He felt his face heating up, and fought the urge to suppress it. This was Kate, and he supposed she was allowed to see this part of him, especially after the last few (incredibly ugly) days. So instead, he let the pink hue color his cheeks, leaning over and settling a quick kiss to her cheek. “Thanks. You coming?”

“In a minute.” There was something else there, but her body was bristling with ‘I-don’t-want-to-talk-about-it’ tension, so Teddy let it slide.

“Sure. I’ll catch you out there in a few, maybe I’ll actually beat you at _Time Crisis_  this time.”

“Don’t count on it,” she teased back, and she was grinning as he left to find the rest of the group. Cassie had dragged Billy away from his losing battle with Eli and the pair were playing _Dance Dance Revolution_. Teddy watched for a while as they tapped out an inaccurate rhythm with the pounding of their feet. Cassie tended to stomp on the buttons, whereas Billy almost seemed to be _floating_  from step to step. He idly wondered if Billy knew how he looked, brow furrowed in concentration and a thin sheen of sweat bursting over pale skin. When he let his mind wander too much, he found his focus on the lean angles of muscle in Billy’s legs, or the arch of his side when he switched quickly from one move to the next. Okay, that was getting a bit _too_  distracting for a public venue. Teddy moved away from watching to locate Eli, who was still glued to _Zombie Nightmare VIII_ , before his brain got too far ahead of itself.

“You trying to get the high score or something?” Teddy asked, lifting up the second plastic gun and slotting a few coins into the machine.

“No, just waiting on an appropriate challenge,” he answered, shooting Teddy’s character on-screen the second he appeared in the game.

“Hey, no fair!” Teddy wailed, though he was sure he could see a wolfish smile stretched on Eli’s face.

“All’s fair in love and war, my friend. And this is definitely a zombie war of epic proportions.”

“I’m pretty sure I’m on your team.”

“Nah, you’re totally a drooling zombie. Check out your shuffle,” Eli insisted, pointed at Teddy’s rambling character on-screen.

“Maybe I’m a nice zombie.”

“Right. And I’m a fairy princess from the Netherlands.”

“Your majesty,” Teddy drawled as he managed to take down Eli’s player before sidling his own behind some cover.

“Jackass,” Eli snarled in reply, though it didn’t have the usual amount of bite behind it.

“Are you boys fighting again?” Kate slung her arms around Eli’s collarbone, effectively causing him to lose the current round. He cursed loudly and turned his head to throw a glare her direction, over his shoulder, while she leaned forward to press a kiss to his cheek. “Oh, come on. Don’t be such a sore loser.”

Teddy watched as Eli calmed from the connection, but he could also see the wink that Kate tossed his way. He mouthed a silent ‘thank you,’ and it was all he was able to do to keep from laughing when Eli jerked his head around to glance between them. “Did you just cheat? You so cheated.”

“Sore loser,” Teddy insisted with a nod of his head, handing off the chunky plastic gun to Kate and giving her a tiny salute. “The fate of the zombie race in your capable hands, ma’am.”

Kate took his position at the gaming console, giving him a gentle nudge with her elbow and motioning towards the front of the arcade. “Get outta here. I have a score to settle,” she murmured, smirking as she turned her attention to the game. “Prepare to get your ass beat, Eli.”

“Bring it,” he answered, something fond underlying the gruff acceptance of a challenge.

Shaking his head, Teddy wandered off to seek out the other two. They were no longer monopolizing the _DDR_ machine (it seemed as though some kids had taken full advantage of the unwritten rule for saving the next game in line, a row of coins lining the bottom edge of the game screen) and he couldn’t see them anywhere in the immediate vicinity. That’s when he heard the agonized wail, followed by quickly hushed murmuring near the entrance to the arcade. He hurried to the largest of the crane games, where Cassie and Billy were huddled, faces pressed to the plexiglass as they whispered out a hushed strategy session.

“What if I try and knock it down with one of those fat purple birds?”

“No, then you’re just going to end up pushing him further in.”

“We could shake the game until he gets knocked loose?”

“You think we can move this giant thing even a little?”

“Okay, valid point. But what about--”

“What are you two doing?” Teddy interrupted, voice canting with suspicion.

Billy pried his face away from the glass box to smile sheepishly, a rosy tinge covering pale features. “Well, we’re trying to get the ugliest failure of a plush dog known to mankind.”

“He’s not ugly! He’s so cuuuuuute!” Cassie chimed, trying to rattle the machine with her palms.

Teddy must have looked beyond confused, because lithe fingers covered his own and dragged him towards the game. Billy pointed to a mottled Husky plush, pressed up hard against the glass near the drop cage, with it’s muzzle sewn awkwardly onto the side of its head. He frowned, brows furrowing as he tried to wonder where the mass production went so wrong. “You want the broken one?”

“Cassie wants the broken one. I wanted a perfectly normal Iron Man plush from the machine near the basketball hoops.”

“You can get that one after!” she insisted, moving away from the glass to cling on Teddy’s bicep. “Teddy, Ted, T? You’re good at these things, riiiiight?”

“I don’t know who has been telling you such slanderous lies,” he chided, glancing sidelong at Billy, who was distinctly looking anywhere else. “But no, I’m not particularly good at them. I can try, though?” Teddy amended, seeing Cassie’s eager grin wither to a pout almost instantaneously.

Dumping a coin into the machine, Teddy disentangled from the pair enough so he could maneuver the controls, though they hovered anxiously at his sides. They’d somehow managed to wedge the misshapen dog between a few other toys and Teddy was unsure how he was going to dislodge it without needing to move all the others first. Cracking his knuckles, his forehead wrinkled in concentration, he gently moved the controls and began the precarious work of freeing the Husky.

Fifteen minutes (and far too many coins) later, Cassie was hugging the world’s ugliest plush dog and Billy was holding his hand.

“I’m gonna show Kate!” she yelped, running off to go find her and leaving the pair lingering at the edge of the arcade.

“So,” Billy mumbled, leaning against Teddy’s side. “You gonna win me an Iron Man now?”

Teddy laughed, feeling brave enough to press a gentle kiss to a his temple. “Sure. Though I’m a little disappointed you’re not aiming for Cap.”

“Already have him,” he replied, grinning broadly and doing his best to hide the flush on his cheeks as he tugged Teddy towards the machine in question. Within minutes they were clustered around the glass, trying to decide which plush had the best stitching or the most accurate arc reactor. They were so absorbed in trying to decide which one to go for, Teddy didn’t notice the phone going off in his pocket, a low murmuring buzz.

“Okay, I think that one is probably the best,” Teddy insisted, tossing in a coin and preparing to scoop up the tiny Tony with one fell swoop. Billy was nodding, palms and nose pressed against the side of the machine as he watched the claw’s descent, his foot tapping an impatient beat on the cement floor.

Teddy was so focused on the slight movement of the machine, the subtle listing to the left when the arm dropped, he didn’t notice the sound of heels rapping up behind him until it was too late.

“Ted!” Kate yelled sharply, awfully close to his ear.

He squawked and released the controls, dropping the squishy Iron Man precisely into the fall chute. “Jesus!” Teddy hissed, turning to her with a hand over his chest. “You just about gave me a heart attack.”

“You’d live. Do you not have your phone on you?” Her dark brows were knitted together on her forehead, and her lips were pulled tight. That never meant anything good.

Teddy fumbled in his pockets to retrieve his cell as Billy scooped their prize from the machine behind him. “Sorry, it was still on silent from the movie,” he muttered as he checked through his missed calls. All from work. “Shit. What’s going on?”

“Apparently, Mr. Shepherd is there again. And he’s not happy. Like, **really**  not happy.”

“We have to go in?” he asked, looking reluctantly over his shoulder at Billy (perfect, _wonderful_  Billy who was giving him an understanding smile, despite all the instances he had already bailed for work).

“Well, unless you really think Rick is capable of anything other than simpering and sitting on his ass. He’ll buy us some time, but probably just enough to get there.”

“Fuck, okay. Did you tell the others?”

“Yeah. Sorry, Billy,” she peered around Teddy to offer a weak smile. “I don’t mean to keep taking him away from you.”

Billy’s cheeks lit up as he tried to shrug it off nonchalantly. “I-it’s fine. I’ll see you tomorrow, Teddy?”

“You bet. Three o’clock, text me your address and I’ll come pick you up.”

They exchanged a quick wave before Teddy and Kate took off, moving as rapidly as possible to get back to the office and try to do damage control. Although, Teddy was mostly trying to will away the absurd grin blooming across his cheeks.

~~~~~~ 

Their small office looked like it had been ransacked.

Of course, that was absurd, since the room was tucked away at the far end of a rather large precinct, with approximately one hundred and twenty police officers between the front doors and the peeling letters of ‘Investigative Division 12A.’ However, there were files strewn about the floor, books toppled from their positions on shelves, and boxes torn apart in an explosive mess. The neat stack of noise complaints that Kate had been working through were scattered from the doorway all the way back to the (fake) potted fern in the back corner of the room, a few pages trampled and torn.

In the center of the whole mess sat Rick, head in his hand, fingers woven amongst greying strands. He didn’t even look up when they entered the room, so Teddy approached slowly, clearing his throat when he was nearer. “Sir?”

When he looked up, his eyes were tired and bleary and Teddy felt a rush of panic course throughout his nerves. They’d been working in this department, under Rick’s supervision, for nearly two years and he couldn’t remember a moment when the man looked anything but brash, cocky, or angry. Now he just looked old and weary. “What the fuck have you two been doing all this time?” he hissed, voice crackling with anger but lacking the energy to yell.

“We have been trying to locate the Shepherd boy to the best of our ability, Sir,” Kate insisted, shuffling around the room and tidying as she went, gathering loose papers and stacking them in a lopsided box to be sorted through later.

“Right, and yet you didn’t bother to keep our client informed of new information as it came up?” His voice was low, a threat buried beneath a time bomb, and Teddy glanced at Kate to try and gauge where they should go from here.

“The information was not reliable. We didn’t want to get the parent’s hopes up in case it was a dead end--which it was,” Kate prompted, halting her organization to stand beside Teddy, both of them towering over their supervisor’s hunched form in the chair.

Folding his hands, Rick glowered up at the pair from behind the bedraggled strands of his bangs. “So explain this to me, if you will. You followed an unreliable lead, using unauthorized equipment, to conduct an unauthorized sting, and still came up empty? If you’d come up with something, fuck if you’d found so much as a shred of proof that this little shit was at that club, maybe I could let this slide. But you fucked up. You fucked up big.”

“The photograph,” Teddy started, feeling the bubbling twist of unease welling higher and higher in his chest, making it hard to breath, hard to think. He knew they had been chasing a long shot, knew that their time on the case was running out, but he didn’t see it turning so sour so quickly. It left the taste of bile rising in his throat.

“The photograph you obtained by questionable means, you mean that photograph?” Rick snarled, clutching at his head as though it was on the verge of imploding. “You’re both off the fucking case. We’re giving it to another precinct.”

“But, Sir!” Kate started, moving forward with a wild concern in her eyes. They both knew well enough that being pulled off a case, especially something that appears as simple as a missing person, looked bad. Really, really bad. It was almost enough to flush a career before it even got started.

“No arguing, Bishop. You two jerked around for weeks, leaving this poor fucking cocksucker and his weird-ass wife to dangle for what? For the hopes that you might eventually find something more than an inkling of a clue as to where their shithead son has gone? Frankly, I’m glad it’s off our desk. It’s a lost cause, that kid is halfway to fucking Maui by now, I’m sure.”

Teddy and Kate shared a look, the unease that was crackling through the room almost palpable. There was no way that this was it, the fact that they were off the case and that was the only elephant in the room. If that were the situation, Rick would have just cursed them three ways to Sunday and been done with it. However, he was still seated in the chair, looking small and frail compared to his usual self.

So they waited for the other shoe to drop.

And they waited.

And waited.

“Oh,” he grumbled, several minutes of silence passing before he stood with a pop of his knees and began towards the office door. “I nearly forgot the best part. Because, you know, not only did you two fuck up on a scale of epic proportions, but now Mr. Shepherd is filing a complaint against the department. A rather noisy, rather lengthy complaint; it’s something about incompetence of the whole damn investigative division, or maybe it was about the coffee in the hall, I’m not too sure.”

Feeling Kate bristling at his side, Teddy reached to place a steadying hand on her shoulder. “Sir? What does that mean for the department.”

Rick paused at the door, flashing a grin their direction that was all teeth. It reminded Teddy of a rabid dog, snarling and baring its fangs. “Oh, not much Altman. Just that they’ll be watching us like hawks for the rest of the year. Ah, and we have an audit on Monday. Have a good weekend, you two.”

The door slammed shut, rattling the framed diplomas along the walls. Teddy was certain that the moment Rick’s footsteps quieted, Kate would start screaming and growling. Instead, she did the opposite, and deflated into the nearest chair.

“Fuck…” she hissed through gritted teeth. “How does he expect us to prepare for an audit when we’re already cleaning up all his damn closers?”

He lifted his shoulders in a halfhearted gesture prior to shuffling around the room and trying to tidy up the disaster that was presumably left by Rick looking for information. Or perhaps Mr. Shepherd had been more forceful this time than the last. “I don’t know what we’re going to do, but we’ll manage somehow. Even if we have to work through the whole weekend.”

“Oh no, mister. You’re not working tomorrow,” she glowered at him, crumpling a scrap of paper into a ball and chucking it at his head. “You have a date.”

Teddy dodged the projectile and kept cleaning as he went, trying to figure out which files things had tumbled out of. “It’s okay. I’ll call Billy, I’m sure he’ll understand.”

“No way, José.” Kate stood and started helping to put things away, stacking books back onto shelves and tossing files onto the desk. “You’re going. I can hold down the fort. Plus, you finished a lot of those closing reports last week, right?”

“I guess so, but Kate… I really don’t feel good about letting this case go,” he mumbled, staring at the file in his hands. It was one of the complaints filed against the Shepherds (in regards to Thomas’s childhood behavior), and a few pages had been torn from it.

She stared at him from behind the desk, her own features pulled into a dark look. “Yeah, but what can we do? They’re not going to let us pursue it further.”

“What if we just… kept it off the books?” he asked, looking hopeful.

There was a long silence, punctuated by the shuffling of pages. “Ted. We could get fired. And not just fired, but marked as unhirable anywhere else.”

“I know.”

“We wouldn’t be able to work in law enforcement again if they catch us.”

“I know, I just… Something’s not right. And I can’t feel good about letting this go if there’s something we can do to help.”

Kate scratched a pen idly across a spare sheet of paper as she spoke. “We can’t, Ted. We really, really can’t.”

Before he got the opportunity to speak up again, she handed him the note, looking solemn.

_There’s a bug under the desk. We will have to be careful. VERY careful._

Teddy nodded slowly, meeting her eyes and relaxing into a smile. “Yeah, you’re right. Of course you’re right. It’s not our problem now.”

“Right. Now help me clean up this place, it’s a fucking mess.”

 


	6. Geronimo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “There!” Billy exclaimed, grin bursting at the seams as he tucked his chilled hands back around the shape of Teddy’s arm. “Now people will know it’s here, and can totally come oogle. Well, at least my small army of followers on Twitter will know, and they can spread the word.”
> 
> “C’mon, oh wise General of Tweeters. You hungry?” Teddy nudged the other’s side prior to moving forward, making no attempt to free his arm from the cage of Billy’s grasp.
> 
> “Yeah! What are we having?”
> 
> There was a gentle warmth at his side, Billy leaning his head on the edge of Teddy’s shoulder as they walked, pale fingers splayed against the thick material of his sleeve. The thundering in his chest dulled to subtle beat, the rhythm taking whisking away his nerves.
> 
> “It’s a surprise,” Teddy answered softly, smiling at the agonized sound that the response elicited from the other. And if he moved his arm just enough to pull Billy closer, well, the noises of protest may have quieted immediately.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaa~ I am so excited to bring you this chapter! This officially means we are past the halfway point, and thank you SO much for sticking with me through all of this, dear readers. Don’t worry though, the fun is just beginning. (Also, please take note that the rating has _**changed**_ with the addition of this chapter--if you would like to skip the part in question stop at "But when had Billy Kaplan ever been one to plan things out?" and pick up at "It was warm, really warm".)
> 
> First of all a BIG congrats to Kuchen for landing a fantastic new job~ I know this means you will be a little more pressured to find free time, but thank you for all of your beta-ing that you somehow still find hours in your day for.  <3 Melerune I love you and have SO MUCH FUN getting married in a few weeks! I miss you already and thank you for all of your input in this chapter before you went halfway across the world. <3<3<3 (Seriously, I love you guys.)
> 
> [Please come visit me on tumblr! :)](http://amonaewrites.tumblr.com/) (You guys are missing out if you don’t check it, I totally do chapter previews over there.)
> 
> Chapters will update on a regular basis, always the first weekend of every month. I have myself on a pretty strict writing schedule as part of my day-to-day, so the only time chapters will be late is if I’m ill or have other serious obligations.

**_ “Well we rushed it, moving way too fast. _ **

**_That we crushed it, but it's in the past._ **

**_We can make this leap, through the curtains of the waterfall.”_ **

_Geronimo by Sheppard_

 

Teddy didn’t sleep. He stayed at the office with Kate until well after midnight, trying to piece together a plan of action for their forward momentum. No one could know they were continuing with the case, it would be risking both their jobs and Thomas’s safety should anyone find out what they were up to. So, instead, they made a point of sweeping Kate’s apartment for bugs prior to choosing that as a base of operations. After all, she had more resources at her personal disposal than Teddy did, and no one would think twice of them spending time with each other outside of the office.

By the time he ambled up the stairs to bed, his body and mind were moving sluggishly in auto-pilot. The moment his back hit the mattress, his brain started buzzing with possibilities--what if they were caught? What if someone got to Thomas before they did? How fast would it take for this whole thing to go sideways?

So when his alarm shrieked through the dim morning light, Teddy rolled over and cuffed it with the edge of his palm. The plan was to go into the office in the morning until he needed to pick Billy up, though Kate had argued against it, and then they could get some work done on the closing files prior to the auditor showing up on Monday. That definitely wasn’t happening; he drew his phone towards himself lazily to fire off a quick text to Kate before prying himself from the bed and forcing his limbs to move his body into the shower.

Under the torrent of warm water, hands pressed hard to his face, Teddy could almost feel himself waking up. He wasn’t sure how so much could have happened in one day, but at least the majority of it had been positive. Billy had forgiven him, had trusted him, and everything seemed like it was okay between them again. Teddy was still tentative, feeling for the edges of the relationship as though they were new and fresh all over again, but at least this time they were working from defined boundaries--no more guessing about what they might be to each other or what they might have.

When he left the shower and retrieved his phone, towel wrapped around his waist as tangled golden strands dripped rivulets of water down his back, Teddy was surprised to see a flurry of texts.

 **TEDDY:** _Didn’t sleep, I’m sorry I won’t be coming in._

_I’m really, really sorry to do this to you._

**KATE:** _Don’t worry about it._

_I’ve got this._

_You just have fun._

_;)_

He shook his head with a snort of laughter (he couldn’t recall more than five times he’d ever seen Kate using an emoticon), and fired off a quick reply before verifying Billy’s address from the previous night’s messages. The student had been up just as late as Teddy had and it helped, somewhat, to know there was someone other than Kate he could trust enough to unload some of the work stress. Billy seemed to understand, comparing the auditor to the impending season of finals, and explained that he would probably be rampantly avoiding all responsibilities in a few weeks, or have turned into a studying hermit. Both scenarios made Teddy laugh so hard that Kate had thrown a pen at him.

Flipping the phone back and forth between his palms, Teddy debated on sending a text to Billy; just a quick ‘good morning’ or an ‘I’m looking forward to seeing you,’ but only the insane (himself and Kate included) were up at this god-awful hour after staying up so late the night prior. He’d let the other sleep, maybe send a text closer to three. Instead, he booted up his laptop, made a quick breakfast (which was promptly inhaled, when was the last time he ate?), and settled at the dining room table to try and plan out the rest of their afternoon.

The tickets Kate had given him were already tucked safely inside his wallet, but the movie didn’t start until five thirty. That left them enough time to do something small beforehand, and the more Teddy thought up options, the more nervous he found himself getting.

_This is a date._

_A **date** -date._

He swallowed the lump in his throat and took another swig of orange juice prior to reaching for his phone and sending off a series of texts, waiting with tapping fingers for the response. His phone buzzed and he read through the replies with a relieved sigh.

Of course Kate would have all the answers.

 **TEDDY:** _I’m freaking out._

_How date? Much nerves._

**KATE:** _First off, drop the Doge, Jesus Ted._

_Second, I gave you a perfectly good date._

_But Billy likes comics._

_You’re both nerds._

_Nerd it up._

_Or something._

_Be casual. Be yourself. And don’t eat onions or garlic._

_Easy._

Teddy chuckled and tried to relax, though his heart was still trembling with every passing tick of the clock. It would be fine, it would be perfect, and he wouldn’t mess this up. Couldn’t mess this up, not again.

He slid back the lock screen of his phone and typed another message, not noticing the absurd grin stretching its way onto his lips.

 **TEDDY:** _Good morning. :)_

~~~~~~

There was an obnoxious sound, coming from somewhere among the bedsheets, and Billy shuffled his arm through them in a vain attempt to locate his cell phone. Grumbling low under his breath, he sat up just enough to see it, wedged between the comforter and his brand new Iron Man plush. Two missed messages: one from Cassie at some wretched hour of the morning (asking if he wanted to go study on campus, of all the things to do on a Saturday morning), and the other from…

“Oops,” Billy murmured, a fond smile crossing over his features as he changed the contact information once again for this particular phone number. He who was once ‘Hot Coffee Stalker,’ became ‘Jackass,’ was now amended to simply ‘Teddy.’ Rubbing at his eyes blearily, Billy answered the message before rolling back into the sheets, pressing his face to the pillow.

_Just five more minutes…_

**Ping!**

**TEDDY:** _Good morning. :)_

 **BILLY:** _You must be mistaken. Mornings are never good._

 **TEDDY:** _Today is good._

_I get to see you._

Billy felt his face heat up and he kicked off all the blankets in one awkward motion, trying to will away the fluttery feeling in his limbs. The part of his brain that was still waking up had conveniently forgotten the reason, the very _good_ reason, he should get out of bed and try to be anything other than a lazy slob of a student all day.

“I have a date,” he whispered, testing the sound of the words, the weight of them, in the stagnant air of his bedroom. Just the idea of it made his chest shudder and his mind spin--was this even possible? They weren’t even speaking to one another when Billy woke up yesterday morning, and now…

Now everything was _perfect_.

It didn’t seem real.

The absurd rhythm of ‘ _Shake It Off_ ’ (which he assumed had been loaded in as a personal ringer while his phone was being so _kindly_ replaced) belted out from tinny speakers just as Billy had managed to convince his caffeine-deprived limbs that yes, they were definitely getting up from bed now. Grumbling, he stuck his tongue out at the lock screen before answering the call.

“Cassie, seriously. It’s Saturday. No one in their right mind studies on a Saturday.”

“Not true, the library is totally hopping,” she teased, and Billy could almost _hear_ Eli’s eyeroll in the background.

“I’m sure you and Eli are having loads of fun deciphering 16th century cave drawings without me. Didn’t Robo-Prof do enough of that shit in class this week?”

“It was interesting!”

“It was like watching paint dry, no wait, sorry, it was like watching _cave paint_ dry.”

“Ha ha, ever the kidder. Seriously, get your ass down here. We have that exam looming on the horizon, you know.”

Okay, now Billy _knew_ that Eli’s eyes had to be rolling back in his head, he was probably leveling Cassie with a stage two ‘we-are-serious-students-so-stop-messing-around’ glare. “Cassie, believe it or not, I have better things to do today.”

“Oh, really?” she lilted, and Billy was rapidly gaining clarity on the actual purpose of her call. His inklings were growing ever stronger when she added a wistful, “With who?”

“Whom.” Eli corrected quietly in the backdrop of the call.

“Whatever,” Cassie retorted, and Billy had to bite back a chuckle.

“Fuck off, you know who.”

“You have a date with Voldemort?” Her voice was so dead-panned, he had to purse his lips together to keep from completely losing it.

“Yeah, Cassie. I have a date with He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named.” Billy glanced at his reflection in the small dorm mirror, frowning at the sight of his hair shoved up into all kinds of angles from sleep.

He had to hold the phone away from his already-abused ear drums as she let out a screech. “Oh, Billy! And it’s a date-date? I mean, I know you guys were talking again yesterday, and things _seemed_ really good, but I just don’t know with you sometimes and--”

“Woah, Cassie, slow down. Breathe,” he insisted, smiling despite the nerves welling up in his throat. “And aren’t you in a library? Shouldn’t you be, I don’t know, _quiet_?”

“It’s Saturday morning at eight am, no one’s here, silly!”

“Ah hah! I knew it was totally dead there.” Billy stood and fidgeted with his hair for a few moments before glancing at his closet and feeling another swell of panic. Where were they going? What should he wear? Was it going to be casual, or would a frumpy University hoodie be _too_ casual?

Their past ‘dates’ had all been fairly low-key, though that had been when they were testing the waters, both unsure of where this… whatever it was, had been going. Now, Billy was pretty sure there were guidelines and rules and regulations and all kinds of unknowns he needed to be paying attention to. Though he didn’t think Teddy was the kind of guy who would be upset what he chose to wear or if his hair wouldn’t stay flat, but a very strong part of Billy wanted to somehow _impress_ him. Scrawny limbs and awkward clumsiness and extreme dorkitude included.

He started pulling clothes from his dresser, dimly aware of someone still speaking into his ear. Somehow, even after throwing every last pair of jeans onto the bed, he had no idea where to start.

“Billy?” Cassie’s voice broke his downward spiral, his hands sifting through dark strands and pulling distractedly.

“Oh, uh. Yeah, sorry, what?” He forced himself to still, encouraged his mind to calm so he absorbed what she was saying.

“Stop freaking out. You’ll be fine.” Billy could practically hear the softness of her smile in the way her voice rose and fell through the phone line. “And wear the dark wash jeans. They look the best. Teddy will love whatever nerd shirt you pull out of your closet, and no frumpy sweaters. You look like a hobo in those oversized things.”

“Thanks,” he answered quietly, hearing the answers to all the questions he hadn’t asked in the sound of her words. The jeans in question were actually on the top of the pile and he snagged a bright red Avengers tee and a dark sweater-jacket (that he didn’t remember picking up, and obviously hadn’t worn as it still had the tags in-tact) before laying the ensemble out on the bed. “Cassie? I’m gonna snap a picture of this and send it to you. Tell me if I’m totally out of my mind.”

“Sure! Oh, and remember to have fun today. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, and I mean, Teddy’s pretty hot, so there isn’t a whole lot I wouldn’t do to--”

“Okay bye hanging up now!” Billy shouted into the phone, frantically sliding his fingers across the screen to end the call. Pressing his palms hard against his eyes, he groaned. “Jesus, Cassie…”

Once he’d sent the photo (as promised) and received feedback (as requested), he grabbed his shower kit and headed down the hall to the shared bathrooms. He had a few hours--maybe he could get his hair under some semblance of control.

~~~~~~

Teddy parked the car, took a deep breath, and glanced up at the towering residential building with an increasing sense of panic. His brain had decided that fifteen minutes before he left the house would be a perfect time to mull over all of the ways that this date could go horribly, horribly wrong. Instead of focusing on that train of thought (or at least, instead of focusing on that train of thought too much), he had pressed any doubts from his mind and re-tracked the mental derailment to how many things could go right.

With his emotions a flurry of nerves and excitement, he wasn’t sure where to place his mood on a scale, but he settled for ‘thrilled.’ Thrilled sounded good. Pulling his phone from the pocket of his jacket (again, thank you Kate) he fired off a quick text. The reply was almost immediate, and it brought a fond smile to Teddy’s lips.

 **TEDDY:** _I’m here. Want me to come up?_

 **BILLY:** _Be right down._

_Room is a war zone._

_Apparently I have no cool clothes._

_Um_

_Be right there_

So Teddy waited patiently in the car, keeping it running so the warmth wouldn’t dissipate in the crisp winter air, until he saw the frenetic shape of a dark-haired student struggling to wind a scarf around his neck as he pushed through the double doors at the front of the building. Billy was glancing aimlessly around the parking lot, losing some of that buzzing energy, so Teddy tapped a gentle pulse on the horn, offering a small wave when the young man finally looked his way. A brilliant grin burst onto pale features, and Teddy could feel his heart tremble in his chest, a wavering rhythm pounding out even after Billy had pried open the passenger-side door and slid into the seat.

“Hey, we have wheels today. You’re not planning on driving me out to the armpit of Queens, are you?”

“Where no one could hear you scream,” Teddy replied with a sly grin, shifting the car into drive and pulling out of the parking lot. He had intended the joke to come out as a little creepy, and didn’t realize the other connotations until he heard the strangled squawk beside him. “Billy?” he asked, glancing over to see the other watching with wide eyes and heated cheeks.

“Um,” Billy replied, the bright flush rising to the delicate shell of his ears.

“Oh. _Oh_. Shit, sorry, I didn’t mean,” Teddy babbled, re-focusing on the road as an attempt to hide the blush working its way onto his own face.

Billy cleared his throat, turning to watch the tree-lined streets zip past outside the window. “It’s fine. Um, so really, where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise?” he offered, hopeful that a simple explanation would suffice. “If that’s okay. I promise, no arm pits involved.”

“Okay, this sound suspiciously like you’re kidnapping me for nefarious purposes. Are you secretly a supervillain, and now that I’ve revealed myself to you, you’re planning on using me to power your secret lair or something? Because, I have to tell you, I will be way more annoying and demanding than you could ever handle. I’ve got two annoying-as-hell younger brothers at home, so I’m an expert on annoying.”

“No, sorry to disappoint, no supervillain lairs either,” Teddy replied, giving the other a quick smile before focusing on the roads. Billy seemed content to fill the silence, and he didn’t mind that Teddy only offered a brief quip here and there in response. It was better for his attention to be on the moving stream of traffic around them, since it tended to pulse and shift with little to no warning on the best of days. Thankfully, as it was on the chillier side, there weren’t nearly as many pedestrians darting between parked cars as there normally were and the only cyclists on the road were those either daring or insane enough to risk the ice.

They pulled into an all-day lot, tucked away among the side streets and nestled among tiny apartments and unobtrusive businesses. He caught the questioning look in Billy’s raised brow as they left the vehicle behind, strolling off down one of the long blocks with no apparent direction.

“So…” Billy mumbled, breathing a huff of warm air into his cupped hands. “Where are we going?”

“It’s just a few blocks up. Sorry, I should have told you to bring gloves,” he whispered, waiting until pale digits were lowered, hoping for a chance to brush their hands together, maybe take hold of Billy’s to keep at least one warm.

But a second later, Billy jammed his hands into the pockets of his heavy jacket, grinning in Teddy’s direction. “It’s cool. I’ll live, and it’s not that cold out today anyway.”

The conversation seemed to have stalled, and Teddy wasn’t sure if he’d said or done something to deter it, but his worries flew away when he felt fingers rapidly tugging at the sleeve of his coat, Billy suddenly _so close_ against his side.

“Teddy! Teddy, oh my god! Look at that!”

He turned his attention to the billboard that Billy was frantically fluttering his free hand at, his other wound around Teddy’s arm in a way that made his heart do a funny little one-two-step along his ribcage. Plastered across the wooden facing was a huge, peeling advertisement and what appeared to be some sort of elaborate graffiti sketch. The Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver jutted to the sides of the board in action poses; a pair of bright eyes were settled into the shape of a dark face large and looming between them. In the corner of the billboard, barely visible among the elaborate images, was a tiny green and white rabbit.

Teddy felt an unpleasant twist in his stomach, wondering if it was possible that this could be another part of the message, another hint dropped from their not-so-subtle runaway. But Billy was excitedly babbling about the gorgeous lines of the artwork and everything else didn’t seem to matter quite so much. He tucked his arm a little more firmly about Billy’s, tugging him close along his side and brushing his fingers gingerly across pale digits.

“It must be new. It wasn’t here last week,” he whispered, silently delighting in the way that Billy moved nearer rather than away.

“It’s so well done! Seems like a shame it’s where almost no one will see it.”

“Well, we managed to see it. I’m sure word will spread,” he insisted, smiling when Billy’s face lit up and he fumbled around for his phone (he was still wound around Teddy’s arm, so it took a few moments more than usual). He took a quick snapshot, frozen fingers sliding across the screen before firing the image into the belly of the internet.

“There!” Billy exclaimed, grin bursting at the seams as he tucked his chilled hands back around the shape of Teddy’s arm. “Now people will know it’s here, and can totally come oogle. Well, at least my small army of followers on Twitter will know, and they can spread the word.”

“C’mon, oh wise General of Tweeters. You hungry?” Teddy nudged the other’s side prior to moving forward, making no attempt to free his arm from the cage of Billy’s grasp.

“Yeah! What are we having?”

There was a gentle warmth at his side, Billy leaning his head on the edge of Teddy’s shoulder as they walked, pale fingers splayed against the thick material of his sleeve. The thundering in his chest dulled to subtle beat, the rhythm taking whisking away his nerves.

“It’s a surprise,” Teddy answered softly, smiling at the agonized sound that the response elicited from the other. And if he moved his arm just enough to pull Billy closer, well, the noises of protest may have quieted immediately.

~~~~~~

They picked up foil-wrapped paninis at a local Italian deli, a hole-in-the-wall that was only known by locals and through word-of-mouth, but the small space was absolutely packed when they arrived. Billy found the cool air outside a relief after the stifling warmth of the shop, his fingers clutched around his sandwich and a coffee.

Somehow, they found a greenspace (likely for the surrounding apartment buildings) and settled onto a bench to eat. Though Teddy wasn’t revealing the plans for the day, it didn’t deter Billy from pressing every chance he got.

“So on a scale of one to ten, where are we going?”

“That doesn’t even make sense,” Teddy retorted, pointing him down with a thick finger, a smear of tomato sauce on the edge of it. “And you’re so impatient.”

“Yup. Impatient. Totally my middle name. Ask my mom, definitely true.” Billy’s eyes were glued to his hand as the blond brought it to his mouth, getting rid of the offending sauce with a gentle motion of his lips. Feeling the crest of a blush (again, dear god), Billy flicked his eyes to the marred surface of the bench. People had carved abstract shapes, letters with hearts around them, and even an elaborate skull into the faded grain of the wood.

Was Teddy a romantic? Was he the kind of person that would want to carve their names into the trunk of a tree, or the kind who would rather keep things casual?

Billy swallowed the last bite of his sandwich around the building lump in his throat, nerves getting to the better of him all over again. Over-thinking wasn’t going to get him anywhere, and when he glanced to his side, his eyes met Teddy’s and everything kind of _stopped_. Teddy had been watching him, waiting for him to finish processing whatever was rolling around in his head, and he was _smiling_ , the kind of fond, sweet smile you saved for someone that you really…

_Loved._

His heart did a spastic little dance for a moment before Billy got things under control, clearing his throat and jamming his hands into his pockets, where they nestled alongside something soft.

“Oh,” he murmured, twisting his fingers around the fabric and clutching at it tight. “Um, I uh… got you something?” Billy pulled the scarf from the depths of his pocket, thrusting it across the space between them in a clenched fist while his eyes darted back to his knees. That way he wouldn’t have to look, wouldn’t have to see whatever emotion was rolling through Teddy’s eyes (or maybe it was a lack of emotion, a controlled stillness--that was even worse than seeing something like disgust).

His hand was shaking (at least he was pretty sure his hand was shaking) but warm fingers wrapped around his own, calming them and giving Billy enough courage to look up through the fan of dark lashes. That smile was still situated on Teddy’s face, but wider now, giving depth to the dimples that blossomed in full.

“You got this for me?” The blond’s voice was warm, a little hesitant, and filled with an underlying adoration that made Billy flush all over again.

“It’s nothing much. I just, Cassie and I were out shopping and I thought the color might suit you…” he whispered, lowering his eyes again to try and hide the ruby stain arching across his cheekbones. He coaxed his fingers to release the soft material of the scarf, now that it was safely in Teddy’s not-shaking hands.

“Billy,” Teddy urged, leaning across to try and get a look at his face, though Billy just sank lower onto the bench to avoid his gaze.

“Thank you. It’s wonderful.”

“You’re welcome,” Billy squeaked, eyes darting up again when he felt as though he had his face a little more under control. And oh hell if Teddy wasn’t putting on the scarf _right_ _now_ , the deep shade of mossy green emphasizing the rosy hue to his cheeks, a bright pop to the burst of blue in his eyes.

Yeah, that color was a damn good call.

And so what if his cheeks were red and he was babbling about nothing again (okay, maybe not nothing, but the new run of Spider Man was hardly on-topic). Teddy didn’t seem to mind, and he was _wearing the scarf_.

It made his stomach flutter and twist, something pleased and content settling in his bones.

~~~~~~

The afternoon drifted by more quickly than Teddy would have liked, though he mostly blamed it on the company he was keeping. Time seemed to speed onwards when he was with Billy, possibly because he wanted nothing more than for the moment to pause eternally, especially when things were going so well. Somehow they ended up spending the flex time between lunch and the movie at Midtown Comics, moving through the bustle of Times Square into the rows and rows of brightly-colored covers. Teddy picked up the last few issues of _Ms. Marvel_ he was missing and Billy managed to find some atrociously obscene-looking movie, _Braindead_. The cover made it seem like it was going to be one of those over-the-top gory films, but Billy had insisted it was a _classic_.

If Billy liked it, it couldn’t be all that bad.

Teddy had ushered them quickly from the comic store, accompanied by complaining from his companion.

“Are we on a timeline or something?” he huffed, glancing up at Teddy through his lashes, lower lip jutting out in an over-the-top pout. He was definitely doing that on purpose.

“Actually, yes.” He nudged his elbow against Billy’s ribs, earning another soft noise of protest. “We have a show to catch. Unless you don’t want to go, I mean, we could always see if the hills are alive some other time.”

Teddy felt the other stop still beside him, a strangled gasp escaping his lips before espresso eyes were watching him wildly. “You didn’t! Really? Who spilled the beans on my favorite guilty pleasure movie?”

“Kate,” he replied with a chuckle, loving the brush of color across Billy’s cheeks while he tried (and mostly failed) to reign in his overt excitement. The young man was practically buzzing with energy, a huge grin taking over his features before he grasped Teddy’s hand and starting tugging him down the sidewalk. Billy was talking again, he knew this, but his thoughts were focused inward on the growing swell of something light and bright and wonderful in his chest.

_God I love you._

Teddy smiled as he was pulled down the streets, shouting out directions when Billy looked like he was about to take a wrong turn. When they were able, they broke into the quick strides of a half-run, laughter bubbling to the surface and breaking free in the brisk air. Both were out of breath when they finally reached the scrolling marquee of the theater and Teddy reluctantly slipped his hand from the warmth of Billy’s to pass their tickets over to the girl manning the booth, who was giving both of them a curious brow raise (though to her credit, she didn’t say anything more than ‘enjoy the show’).

The theater was old, but well-maintained and the architecture was gorgeous. Every time he visited, Teddy couldn’t help running his palm along the smooth wooden rails leading up to the second level balcony. The varnish was slightly tacky with age, but the craftsmanship was perfect. He led Billy along with him after they’d purchased popcorn (required) and an assortment of candy (also required). Billy insisted, with another tinge of red across his cheeks, that he would likely be mouthing the words along the whole movie. Teddy insisted he didn’t mind in the slightest.

And here, in the darkened theater with the quiet thrum of people and music surrounding them, Teddy couldn’t find he minded much of anything. Billy had sidled up against him as much as the immovable armrest would allow, sneaking handfuls of popcorn during the slower scenes. His lips moved along to those Teddy assumed were his favorites, especially “ _How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria_.” It all pushed and pulled at something deep in his chest that he had been trying to ignore, something he convinced himself couldn’t be true, couldn’t be plausible.

Teddy found himself falling, hard, fast, and altogether completely for this bundle of energy and light named Billy.

_Well, shit._

He let a fond smile tug at his mouth, eyes drifting to watch a pale face illuminated by the film when moments allowed for it. After their argument, after he thought it was all over, Teddy had tried to convince himself it wasn’t worth it, it wasn’t worth the pain it would bring to become so completely, utterly absorbed in everything that made up this frenetic young man. But he couldn’t help it, his heart was billowing outward without heeding a single warning that his brain was trying desperately to communicate.

~~~~~~

Everything was perfect, so damn perfect, and Billy still couldn’t get a read on the evening. He felt like he was talking too much, or maybe it was just that Teddy was too quiet. True, they had joked around and talked while waiting for their food, shouting over the sound of bustle in the deli. Billy had been making extravagant hand gestures while they ate; he was sure that he was being too over-the-top, but when he heard the other man laugh, _really_ laugh, the sound almost melted him to the core. Teddy had flashed him a smile, shy and soft, and everything seemed all right. Better than alright.

So why couldn’t he shake this feeling? This sinking, bobbing sensation in the pit of his stomach, threatening to force his mind away from the events surrounding him.

Billy had too much time to think, during the movie, though he absolutely _loved_ that Teddy had taken him to see _The Sound of Music_ of all things--this man was perfect, _perfect_.

_Don’t fuck this up._

He didn’t realize that the credits were already rolling until he felt a gentle nudge against his shoulder. Glancing at Teddy, he was amazed to see that gentle smile still in place, something stronger floating beneath the surface of bright blue eyes.

“You still with me?” Teddy teased, jostling their shoulders again prior to standing, their half-eaten bag of popcorn held in his left hand, his right extended to Billy.

For his hand.

He wanted to hold hands.

Before, when they had been racing to the theater, it had been very heat-of-the-moment-don’t-get-lost-in-the-big-city. This, this was a lot more intimate.

Billy was pretty sure his features were an embarrassingly fiery hue, but he took the proffered limb and gave strong digits a gentle squeeze for reassurance. “Yeah, sorry. Kind of drifted off into my head for a bit there.”

“Penny for your thoughts?” The question was innocent, in that tone the blond had to indicate it was okay not to answer, non-pressing and unthreatening and everything in between.

_Where to start?_

_Do you like me?_

_Am I doing this right?_

_Please, please, please don’t let this end here._

Okay, so the last one wasn’t so much a thought as it was a begging, desperate, clutching feeling in his chest. Billy turned his eyes downward, focusing on the messy knot of his laces instead of the strong lines of Teddy’s shoulders. He didn’t know where to begin, let alone how to calm himself long enough to articulate exactly what he was feeling, what was fluttering and twisting and rolling in his chest. “Um…” he started, grateful when they reached the pressing threat of snow in the November air, the chill sapping some of the heat from his cheeks.

Teddy stopped off to the side of the doors, allowing the flow of people to move uninterrupted. He was watching with a patient smile, not pressing but letting Billy gather his thoughts into something logical and coherent.

God, he was so, so _perfect_.

"So... What's the plan?" He was definitely _trying_ to be casual, though a hint of desperate ‘ _please don’t let this day end just yet_ ’ was leeching its way into his words. Billy was sure Teddy could hear it in his voice, and if not that, then maybe in the gentle slide of his thumb back and forth across thick knuckles.

“Well, I didn’t have anything else planned per-say…”

_Shit._

“But if you didn’t have anywhere you needed to be this evening, could I convince you to stick around for supper? Something low-key, maybe back at my place?”

_Yes, yes, and oh hell yes._

“Billy?”

Teddy was watching him with mild concern, the corners of his lips tugged up in a barely controlled smile that was spiralling towards cheeky grin. Oh, none of those words had actually been outside of his head. Right.

“Y-yeah, that sounds,” _perfect_ , “great!”

There was a rampant spiral of heat working its way down his neck to pool deep and low in his belly, but if Teddy noticed he didn’t say anything about it, simply flashing a bigger smile and jostling their shoulders together playfully.

“We can even watch that terrible movie you insisted on buying.”

“Hey, Dead Alive is a masterpiece!”

“It looks ridiculous.”

“Uh, **yeah**. Ridiculously awesome!”

They were both laughing and shoving at each other the whole way back to the car, the walk not seeming nearly as cold when he was pressed up along Teddy’s side, hand nestled comfortably in a warm palm. As they sat in the confined space of the car and waited for it to warm up while debating on the finer details of scary versus silly horror films, Billy tried not to let his mind spiral out of control.

He was going to Teddy’s home, with Teddy’s things, and Teddy’s space, and, and…

And he was focusing very hard on keeping the color of his cheeks from being an impossible shade of red for the whole evening, though it was looking like a lost cause. Especially when Teddy looked at him over the gear shift, body slanted low to get a better glance of Billy’s face (which he was trying desperately to hide in the folds of his scarf).

“Ready to go?” he asked, voice warm and soft and melting all across every nerve in Billy’s body, shocking them all to life.

He barely managed to nod without embarrassing himself, but Teddy just chuckled before twisting the wheel and starting them moving towards the road. They drove along in relative silence, Teddy pointing out a few of his favorite shops or restaurants along the way, and sooner than Billy knew it they were back in familiar territory, the streets and avenues all starting to look a little closer to home.

“Hey! I didn’t know you lived so close to campus.” Okay, so it wasn’t _close_ close, but close enough to be a relatively manageable walk.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s not much… but it’s close enough to the precinct so I can get there without using the car too much. Parking is kind of awful around there.”

“I think you mean parking is awful everywhere. We do live in New York,” Billy chided, turning to watch the slow build of a blush on Teddy’s cheeks. It made any other snappy remarks he had been about to say curl up and squeeze shut in his throat.

_Was he nervous about this too?_

Teddy parked the car around back, hesitating by the driver’s side for a moment prior to grinning sheepishly across the hood. “Hey, so I didn’t think to ask, are you okay with pasta and a salad? I can do a quick grocery run if you’re in the mood for something else.”

Billy just about got the length of his scarf caught in the door when he slammed it shut, catching his balance on the edge of the car frame. He glanced up at Teddy, his body singing with embarrassment, but the blond was simply smiling, waiting for an answer.

_You. I’m in the mood for you._

“No, pasta sounds good,” he replied, noting the hint of a strain in his voice when he spoke, and hoping it only sounded like that to his own ears.

_Seriously, Billy. Get your mind out of the gutter. This is **new** , don’t rush in guns blazing._

Teddy had come around to the passenger side, freeing Billy’s scarf from where it was tangled around the side-view mirror, and he was standing so, _so_ close.

_Breathe. Oh my god, don’t be a spazz just breathe._

“Thanks,” he huffed, the words coming out breathier than he meant them to. Billy focused on rearranging his scarf to keep his mind in one piece, and to keep his eyes off the rosy hue Teddy’s cheeks were turning in the brisk air.

Teddy looped an arm around Billy’s shoulders and led him to the building, talking about how it wasn’t super new but it was clean and surprisingly modern despite the brick facade exterior. Billy was only processing half the words, his fingers clutching and worrying the edge of his scarf. He convinced himself to quit with the fidgeting once they had moved into the apartment, when Teddy stepped away to remove his shoes and slide them under a small table in the entryway. Billy mimicked the action, taking a moment to glance around the hall.

There was a sprawl of wrought iron leaves between three circular mirrors on one wall, opposite a series of coat hooks and a large painting of the night sky. He squinted at the signature, trying to make out a name (as though he actually knew anything about painters), but had no luck. It was definitely an original, Billy could see the peaks and valleys of the oil paint layered on the canvas, but the whorls of blues and purples were so expertly twisted together it made him feel as though he were floating in space, never to touch the ground again.

When he turned back to the blond after shuffling out of his coat and scarf, he was surprised to see Teddy hesitating nearby, something shy and sweet nestled behind his gaze. “Where’d you get this painting? It’s amazing,” he offered, trying to find some semblance of conversation in the stilted silence he’d unintentionally encouraged between them.

The flush deepened on the planes of Teddy’s face. “Ah, well… I, um, painted it?” he replied, voice lilting at the end as if it were a question.

Billy was pretty sure his mouth was gaping open, but he couldn’t help it, and he whipped his head around to examine the signature again. Sure enough, when he focused on the letters he was seeking, he saw the sweeping cross of a ‘T’ and the flowing peaks of an ‘A.’

“Oh,” he whispered, voice bubbling with awe and warmth as he turned towards Teddy with a smile. “It’s beautiful, Teddy.”

Teddy’s face reddened further and he diverted his attention to hanging his own coat, gingerly folding his new scarf and placing it on the end table. “It’s nothing. Something I did in high school. I should probably get dinner started but, uh, make yourself at home? It’s not much, bathroom is through the bedroom.”

“Did you want a hand? With dinner, I mean,” he offered, motioning towards the kitchen just off the entryway. “I can chop a mean veggie.”

Chuckling, Teddy ambled into the kitchen and began pulling things together for the meal. “Yeah. I’d like that. A lot.” His tone turned husky on the last note, a subtle smile pulling at his lips when he glanced over his shoulder.

Billy didn’t manage to hide the flush creeping to his cheeks.

~~~~~~

The cool air inside the refrigerator was welcoming on his heated cheeks while Teddy pretended to be looking for ingredients that were right in front of his face. He couldn’t help but feel the effects of the back-and-forth flirtatious banter that had been happening all afternoon, and he prayed he wasn’t reading the situation wrong--maybe Billy was just particularly flippant today. But he couldn’t deny the spluttering coughs to cover awkward moments, or the way that the tips of Billy’s ears pinked when he tried hard not to maintain eye contact.

It was making Teddy’s heart feel sporadic and light, clumsy and thundering all at the same time.

Maybe he was just having a heart attack.

Shaking himself a little, he retrieved the basil and parmesan from the fridge, settling them on the counter before moving deftly to the tiny standing pantry and pulling out onions, garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sea salt, pepper, and spaghetti. His arms were full when he turned, meeting Billy’s raised brows with a smile.

“It’ll be good. I promise,” he insisted, silently hoping that the simple dish would be satisfactory. While he didn’t cook for himself often (it was just so hard to prepare meals for one person alone), Teddy loved it. The smell of onion simmering low in butter, the crisp snap of red pepper, the faint scent that clung for hours after chopping garlic. His mother had instilled an ever-loving obsession with food in him, and he wouldn’t let an opportunity to show off a little pass him by.

Teddy passed the basil to Billy, along with a cutting board and one of the good knives prior to relinquishing the remainder of his cache on the far counter, next to the stove. “Can you chop the leaves rough and the stems fine, please? Keep a few of the smaller leaves out too. Then I’ll get you to dice those tomatoes, if you don’t mind.” He nodded towards the small fruit bowl on the counter then shuffled around with the other ingredients, ignoring the curious eyes trying to burn a hole in his shoulder.

“Yes’sir!” Billy quipped, and Teddy was fairly certain there had been a pose to go with it, but by the time he glanced over his shoulder, the other’s lithe form was already turned away and focused on the cutting board. He could see the concentration in the line of Billy’s body, arched over the knife like it would bite him at the first available moment.

It wasn’t the pose of someone who knew what they were doing, and that made Teddy both concerned and pleased to know the other was trying so hard to… to what? Impress him? Help out?

Teddy moved swiftly, setting up the water to boil and the ingredients in the required order before stepping up behind the other, peering over his shoulder to see the slow, lopsided slices he was making through the basil. He would bet his next paycheck that Billy had barely been in a kitchen for longer than ten minutes, let alone cooked on a regular basis. Stifling a chuckle, he moved close, settling his hands on Billy’s upper arms to keep him from jumping when he was, inevitably, startled. Last thing he needed was for the student to lop off a finger and have the date end in the emergency room.

“Here, let me show you before you hurt yourself,” he whispered, focusing on the grip of his hand around Billy’s on the knife and not the press of heat between their bodies. There was a tremor in slim fingers before Teddy closed his hand, maintaining the proper hold and guiding the other’s fingers into place. “Get a firm grip on the handle, keeping your other hand at the back of the point, guiding the motion. Then you rock gently along the cutting board over your ingredients. No missing fingers this way.” Teddy’s voice was teasing, and he was concentrating on the movement of their fingers just as much as he was on the smooth skin of Billy’s neck against his jaw.

His fingers moved along the sway of the blade, the sound of it rhythmic and soothing in a way Teddy hadn’t quite expected. Everything had been so hectic, so stressful as of late, and yet this…

This felt so easy, so _right_ in comparison.

“See? That was way easier, right?” His breath huffed near the tangles of dark strands arcing over pale ears, and he watched as a creeping flush rose to engulf them.

It was as if nothing and everything had changed all at once.

~~~~~~

 _Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod_.

Billy was sure his face couldn’t get any redder if it tried, but true to Kaplan fashion, he felt the blush creeping down to his collarbones as if to refute any earlier thoughts. The hard lines of Teddy’s chest against his back eased up, hands moving to hold the knife in another position and gently urging Billy’s clumsy digits to follow. He could still feel the gentle press of a strong chin on his shoulder, the pass of warm breath along the shell of his ear when Teddy spoke, words blurring together in the hazy mess of his mind.

They were so close, it was like it was intentional.

_Oh my god, maybe Teddy is doing this on purpose._

He dismissed that thought as quickly as it fluttered through his brain, because Teddy was sweet and kind and just trying to make sure Billy didn’t destroy the tomatoes like the kitchen barbarian he was. Hey, it wasn’t exactly his fault that neither of his parents had deemed culinary skills as something necessary to his survival. (Though they also hadn’t expected him to up and leave for residence halfway through his first year either, so there was that.)

“I’m going to get things started on the stove, you got this covered?”

Teddy was speaking again, voice soft and heated against his neck. Billy suppressed a shudder, closing his eyes momentarily and stilling his hand on the knife.

_Focus, Billy. Words. Real words. You can totally do this._

“Yeah! I’ve got this, you go do your stove sorcery and by the time you get back, I’m going to be the master of dicing.”

_Smooth. Real smooth._

Teddy smiled at him, the warm, easy smile he seemed to be using more often now (or maybe it was just Billy’s imagination?) and he felt like perhaps he wasn’t acting like such a bumbling dork. Though he was still fairly certain he was massacring the tomatoes--he hoped it wouldn’t matter too much.

They moved in a silent rhythm: Billy finishing up with the dicing only seconds before Teddy was requesting the ingredients, Teddy straining the pasta while Billy pulled plates and cutlery from the cupboards.  By the time they had settled around the small kitchen table, Billy’s stomach was growling with an embarrassingly loud gurgle.

“Uh,” he started, feeling the heat rising to his cheeks.

Teddy didn’t miss a beat. “Don’t worry, I made lots. So you can let Godzilla know there will be enough for seconds.” The blond pulled some kind of garlic bread from the oven and a huge bowl of salad from the fridge--when on earth did he make that?

“Thanks,” he replied, helping himself to a moderate-sized portion so it wouldn’t seem like he was taking an obscene amount of food, though it smelled _amazing_.

Billy spied the large corkboard that separated the ‘dining’ area from the living room. There were all kinds of photos and print-outs pinned up, links of colored yarn running across them. He pointed at it with his fork, swallowing around a mouthful of pasta before speaking. “I didn’t know you guys actually did that, with the strings and stuff.”

Teddy’s cheeks tinged pink and he focused on the twist of spaghetti around his fork. “Ah, a lot of people don’t, not anymore. A lot of the thought processes are done on computers now. But I always preferred this, it’s easier to see the big picture.”

“What case is that for, or is it top-secret?” Billy sopped up the remainder of the sauce with a chunk of bread, reluctant to leave even a little behind.

There was a momentary lull and Billy wondered if he’d said something wrong, but Teddy spoke while twirling the fork about the plate absent-mindedly. “Well, you already kind of know about it. But don’t tell anyone I’m still working on it.”

“That doppelganger case?” he questioned, settling down his fork on the edge of the plate. Seconds could wait a few minutes. “Why shouldn’t anyone know you’re working on it?”

“Because,” there was a heavy sigh, words weighted on Teddy’s tongue. “I’m not technically working on it. Not anymore.”

Billy frowned, watching the way the detective dragged his fork back and forth across his plate. This was obviously something important to him, with the amount of pressure it was putting on broad shoulders. Billy wanted to take some of that pressure away, to make it lighter, so he reached his hand across the table to brush fingertips across the back of Teddy’s free hand. “What happened?”

“You don’t really want to hear about it, it’s not a great story,” Teddy insisted, a weary smile on his face.

“If you want to tell it, I’ll listen. I might not be super insightful or anything, but if you need me to shock someone real bad I could probably manage that,” Billy insisted, keeping the light tone to his voice, hoping that it might help the other open up, even a little.

~~~~~~

Teddy didn’t know how it happened, but he found himself reliving the whole sordid tale of Rick’s freak-out, the client meeting disasters, and finally ending with him and Kate getting unceremoniously pitched off the case faster than they could blink. He’d never been removed from a file before, and it stung to know this had been brought on by himself, not external influences.

Somehow, speaking with Billy (who knew very little about the inner workings of a police department, with the exception of what he saw in movies) was incredibly freeing. It didn’t matter if he ranted about a coworker or went off on a tangent about the intricacies of paperwork, Billy listened, offered quips here and there, and kept a steady pressure against the back of Teddy’s hand with his thumb.

Before he knew it they had eaten through a second round of dinner, cleaned up, set the dishwasher to run, and were settled on the couch with a huge bowl of popcorn in front of them. Teddy paused, a handful part-way to his mouth.

“Wow, I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to go off on a villainous rant there.”

“See, I told you that you were kidnapping me and taking me back to your secret lair,” Billy teased, leaning to jostle their shoulders together before he fiddled with the remote and started up the movie. “Okay, so Braindead is awesome and you’re going to love it.”

“Don’t you mean Dead Alive?” Teddy asked, examining the cover for the DVD once again, sure that the case had verified that title.

“Yeah, it’s both. Braindead is a way better name for it though. You’ll see.”

“Is this going to be super gross?”

“Why, you scared?” Billy had shuffled close and was smirking as he dug a finger between Teddy’s ribs.

He yelped in protest, edging away just enough so those pointed digits weren’t wriggling at his sides. “H-hey!”

Two dark brows raised into a hairline, and Teddy was fairly certain this was the closest Billy ever got to looking malicious. “Why, Mister Altman, I do believe I have found your secret weakness.”

Teddy groaned, rolling his eyes and motioning exaggeratedly to the TV. “Please, we’ll miss the masterpiece.”

The opening of the movie was already progressing on-screen, so Billy settled for leaning along Teddy’s side and watching, though the blond had a sneaking suspicion he was in trouble now that the other found out he may (or may not) be just a little bit ticklish. His arm was uncomfortable sandwiched between them, so Teddy found his courage and lifted the limb to drape it gently across trim shoulders. That brought a smile to pale features as Billy cuddled right up along his chest, seeming for all the world as though he couldn’t hear Teddy’s heart rocketing in his chest at a million miles per hour.

As much as he tried to maintain focus on the film, he knew he was failing miserably. Every few minutes he would sneak a glance at the man against his side, shifting his position to both find the ideal in terms of comfort and to gauge Billy’s reactions to a hand on his arm, an arm around his waist, a gentle brush over the delicate curve of a hip bone. There was a deep, warm churning in the depths of his stomach that was only growing hotter with every heartbeat, every feel of Billy’s breath huffing onto his chest when he laughed.

God, it was enough to drive him mad.

Teddy was rather, well, _uncomfortable_ in no time at all and he was sure the blush that had started on his cheeks was well down the back of his neck by now. He assumed Billy was absorbed in the movie, the other didn’t seem to notice all the awkward re-positioning going on at his side.

He had never been so, _so_ wrong.

~~~~~~

There was definitely something suspicious going on. Teddy hadn’t laughed once since the first ten minutes of the movie, and the opening scene was hardly the best part (though Billy wasn’t sure how anyone _wouldn’t_ laugh at the ridiculousness of the ‘disease’). A few times he had caught blue eyes darting away just as he glanced sidelong at Teddy, hoping to grasp an idea of what was distracting him. Billy’s mind immediately assumed it had been their previous conversation, which had veered to the serious and stressful quicker than he had been able to get a handle on damage control. But the other had really seemed to open up, something Billy got the sneaking suspicion he didn’t do often, and he was reluctant to stop Teddy from talking once he got going. Everyone needed a chance to vent every now and then, bottling stuff up just led to explosive consequences (not that he had experiences with such consequences, mind you).

This Teddy was different from the Teddy in the kitchen, though. He felt as though every wall were piled back up, his body still and slightly stiff. Billy could feel the tremble of his heartbeat, fluttering every time he shifted his weight to get comfortable again. Halfway through the movie, he slipped away, intending to snag a drink after inhaling most of the popcorn.

“Did you want anything from the kitchen, T-”

Billy was partway off the couch, using the other’s thigh as leverage as he stood, when he saw the flush creeping it’s way down into the collar of Teddy’s shirt.

_Oh._

Teddy’s lips were pressed together tight as he repositioned himself, only serving to draw attention to his predicament. His tongue darted out to wet pink lips, and Billy zeroed in on the movement, thoughts turning to jelly as a slow, sweet heat pooled low in his belly.

“Shit, uh…” he mumbled, making a valiant attempt to rearrange the words in his mind into an actual sentence.

Teddy was looking away and he could see that wonderful blush starting to swirl and dissipate as quickly as it had appeared. Billy felt a moment of panic, he couldn’t let things go back to how they were before, he couldn’t handle the idea that Teddy felt he had to _control_ himself to such extremes when they were together.

“T, don’t,” Billy hissed, moving back to perch on the edge of the couch, his knees on either side of Teddy’s. His palms were gently cupping slightly-rosy cheeks, brushing his thumbs over the vanishing hue. “Please don’t hide from me.”

Slowly, cautiously, he smoothed his fingers back and forth across warm skin in a way he hoped was encouraging. After listening to the thundering of his heartbeat for what felt like ages, deep oceanic pools slid to meet his gaze.

“Billy,” Teddy’s voice was thick with emotion, the sound of it sending a shiver straight down the arch of Billy’s spine.

_Oh god._

“Y-yeah?” He offered in reply, feeling his own face heating exponentially. Apparently he had been leaning forward as he was focused on the movement of his hands, his forehead nearly pressed to Teddy’s brow, close enough to feel the short stutters of breath between them. Hands moved to his thighs, mimicking the motion that Billy was continuing to press on cheeks that were no longer heated, but instead sporting a smile that said so many things that weren’t audible.

_Thank you._

_Please._

_I love you._

Billy could feel the tightness in his chest threatening to strangle him, his heart pounding so hard it was messing with the rhythm of his breathing. More than anything, he wanted to close the gap between them, repair whatever had been damaged in the past few weeks. It felt like rushing, it felt like moving too fast, it felt reckless.

But when had Billy Kaplan ever been one to plan things out?

~~~~~~

The thermostat must have been broken, it was the only logical explanation Teddy could find for the intense amount of heat flowing through his body. That, or it was the fact that Billy was basically perched on his lap, so, _so_ close that it was enough to drive him mad. It took exorbitant amounts of self control not to move forward, to feel the press of Billy’s lips against his own--but that could wait. He didn’t want to make the first move, didn’t want to assume this was something they both wanted, though his thought processes were growing hazy the longer the dark-haired man sat there, brushing fingers along his cheeks.

Teddy smiled, in a way he hoped was reassuring, just before his whole world tumbled into a spiral of color. Billy pressed against him, hands remaining on his cheeks (which had to be about three shades darker by now) while their mouths clashed together. It was desperate and quick, Billy seemed to be forcing himself before he lost courage. Teddy moved one of the hands from the other’s thigh to his shoulder, pushing him back just enough to break contact, a breathy laugh on his lips.

The keening noise that Billy made when they had separated went straight to his groin, and Teddy had to muster all of his focus to speak. “There’s no rush, you know. We can take our time if you want to take it slower.” Even his voice betrayed him, words coming out husky and thick like honey coating his throat. The effect on Billy was immediate, his features turning beet red before he averted his eyes, but Teddy could see that his pupils were blown.

“Maybe I don’t want… to take it slow,” Billy whispered, the end of his sentence almost devoured by the oncoming rush of noise from the movie.

“I do.” Teddy moved his hand from a trim shoulder to the sharp lines of Billy’s jaw, forcing him to meet his gaze. “I want to take this slow, I want to watch you and see your reactions, I want to be sure we both want this, that I’m not going to screw this up.”

“But I was the one who--”

“We both messed up,” he interrupted, silencing the other with a brush of his thumb over soft lips. “But I want this, I want you.”

The effect his words had was immediate, a tiny noise biting through the apartment as Billy sucked in a quick breath through his teeth (which had captured his lower lip and were worrying it considerably). Teddy could feel the shudder through Billy’s lithe frame on the exhale, and his cock twitched from the confines of his jeans. He wrapped his hands gingerly about Billy’s hips, tugging him closer and nearly jumping when he felt the heat of the other’s erection against his thigh.

Groaning deep and low in his throat, Billy bowed his head into the hollow of Teddy’s neck, where he could no longer make out his expression. “You…” his whispered, voice breathy and barely there as it stuttered along his neck. “You’re going to be the end of me, you know…”

“I know,” Teddy replied, the end of his ‘know’ coming out as a lilting moan, Billy pressing soft, open-mouthed kisses along his neck to the junction behind his earlobe. “God, Billy…”

“Mmmhmm?”

“I…” He could feel delicate fingers easing open the buttons of his shirt, skating the fabric of his undershirt as they continued downwards. By the time Billy reached the last button, his lips still pressing butterfly-light kisses to Teddy’s jawline, he felt as though his body was on fire. Every nerve ending was illuminated, singing out, crying for more. “Billy…” Was all he managed to hiss, his eyelids drifting shut as he leaned his head on the back of the couch.

“Yes?” Came the reply, quiet, with a hint of that snarky nature that seemed to trail the student like a shadow. His hands stilled on Teddy’s shoulders in the process of sliding the collared shirt off his shoulders and who-cares-where after that.

Teddy groaned quietly, opening his eyes just enough to see the satisfied smirk on the other’s face. “You’re teasing me on purpose…” His voice may have come off as a bit whiny, but Billy didn’t seem to notice. Or if he did, he still didn’t budge and inch, hands hovering where he left them.

“Aaaaaand?” There was a slight movement with the query, just enough to brush their hips close, so close, and Teddy’s fingers twitched against the jutting angles of hip bones.

“You’re incorrigible…” he complained, knowing just as well as Billy that he could gain the upper hand in moments, should he choose it. Right now, however, he wanted whatever those espresso eyes were willing to give him.

Billy pulled back and it sent a wave of panic coursing through the arousal in his blood, worry seeping in to steal what pleasurable height he had been climbing. Did he do something wrong? Say something wrong?

Dark eyes flashed with something hungry, something deep, and Teddy felt his mouth go dry. Had he been standing, there was no doubt in his mind that he would be having difficulty with it now. He shifted to try and find some comfort, his pants unbelievably tight. Billy wasn’t moving, wasn’t saying anything, he just watched with those eyes so full of everything Teddy wanted.

He swallowed around the lump in his throat. “Billy…?”

Billy brushed a hand along his chest, palm emitting obscene amounts of heat even through the cotton of Teddy’s tee shirt. His fingers circled a pert nipple before his hand swooped down along the blond’s side, toying with the hem. “T, what do you want?”

His voice was serious, it brought a hint of clarity to Teddy’s delirium, and he could see the questions running behind that gaze.

_Is this okay?_

_Are we okay?_

_Do you want this?_

_Is it too soon?_

Teddy felt the twist in his gut, the jump of his cock at the mere idea of where this all might lead. His tongue darted out to wet lips he was sure were dry and chapped, but Billy’s attention followed the motion. Lithe digits were fiddling with the edging of his shirt, threatening to warp the cotton beyond repair with the nervous tugging. “I want you,” he managed to get out, feeling the fluttering tumble of something from his breast to low in his gut.

Apparently that was all the reassurance Billy needed, since in the next moment Teddy found himself pressed hard into the back of the couch, hands roaming his chest and stomach, lips surged hot against his own. He moaned into the contact, moving one of his hands from Billy’s hip to hold gently at the base of his skull, where the soft wisps of dark hair met the smoothness of pale skin. Teeth gnashed with eagerness, Teddy eased his thumb along the other’s neck to slow him before he pressed his tongue gently forward, requesting permission and tasting at the same time. There was a shuddery whimper from Billy, his lips welcoming Teddy to that wet heat and salt that was Billy and popcorn and _wonderful_. The fingers that were skating along under his shirt were trembling now and Teddy could feel the eager press of the other along his thigh.

_Oh god, he’s…_

Billy was rolling his hips slowly as a way to get some kind of relief on the pressure building and burning, practically grinding against Teddy with wanton abandon. The feeling was enough for him to break the kiss, keeping his eyes on the dark-haired young man as he gasped in a wavering breath, eyes half-lidded.

“Billy…” his voice came as a rolling growl, fingers twisting through wayward strands of hair and tugging to ensure he got the other’s attention. Billy’s gaze met his, though his breath was coming in steady gasps through parted, kiss-flushed lips.

Teddy kept his left hand tight on Billy’s hip, to keep him from squirming around too much, though he was obviously desperate for contact. Taking a deep breath, he continued. “Billy, I want you. I want…” he could feel the flush bursting through his skin, meeting the air despite the fact he could will it away with a moment’s notice. He didn’t. “I want to taste you.”

“S-should we maybe move this somewhere more, um, horizontal?”

A grin broke onto his face at the sound of Billy’s voice, trembling even as he tried to roll his hips forward again. He shifted his digits through dark locks, relishing in the keening sound it wrenched from the other’s throat. Teddy leaned forward to mouth a sloppy line of kisses along the edge of his jaw before looping both arms around Billy’s thighs and lifting him with the motion of standing. There was a startled squeak but Teddy was already walking them towards the adjacent bedroom, ignoring the elaborate scene of the film flashing in the background. He all but kicked open the door, still supporting Billy’s weight as he approached the bed, hands keeping remarkably still despite how badly they wanted to wander in that moment.

The other’s face was buried into his collarbone, and Teddy could feel the brush of heated breath for every stuttery exhale that passed his lips. He gently settled Billy on the edge of the mattress in a seated position, running his palms down the back of his thighs, his calves, his feet. His fingers stilled at squirming toes, squeezing them gently as he knelt before his bent legs. “Billy?”

Watching carefully, he could see the sprawl of crimson across defined angles, despite the fact that the student had averted his gaze elsewhere. Lithe hands were clutching at the fabric of the duvet, knuckles dancing nervously beneath skin as the fingers shifted and twisted.

“Billy,” he whispered again, trying to put everything he was feeling into one word, into the only word that mattered. Teddy’s hands slowly repeated their path, moving up Billy’s shins, his thighs, brushing gingerly over the pressing heat of his cock, trailing under the hem of the bright tee shirt and urging the other to lay back as they moved upwards, pressing soft against lines of stomach and ribs, twisting and avoiding contact with anywhere that might be too sensitive. Teddy was moving along the bed with him, from his kneeling position on the floor to a hovering arch above a trim frame. Just before Billy’s shoulders touched the mattress, he urged the shirt up and over his head, Billy moving his arms to allow the top to be pulled off and tossed over the foot of the bed.

Pale cheeks were flushed as Teddy ran fingers through his hair and down along sharp cheekbones, convincing the other to look at him despite the cautious embarrassment running rampant across his features.

“Billy.”

A harsh breath was sucked between open lips as Billy turned to him, eyes dark and wanting. “Teddy, I… I really want…” He cut himself off, trying to turn away again but Teddy’s hand stilled the movement.

“Don’t hide from me,” he repeated the other’s earlier words back to him, a soft smile playing across his lips. Teddy lowered his hovering position, still keeping some space between their bodies, though he could now feel the heat radiating off Billy beneath him. It took every ounce of self control in his cells not to give in to the urge to grind his hips downwards, to bridge that gap. Instead, he focused his attention on pressing kisses along Billy’s cheeks, trailing down his jaw to his chin before swooping beneath to the soft skin of his neck. He became bolder here, allowing his tongue to dart hot stripes at the hollow beneath the back of his jawline, and at the delicate divot where his collarbone met. Teddy moved lower, revelling in the sounds Billy was obviously trying to stifle, though a quiet whimper escaped when he raked his teeth gingerly over a pert nipple. It brought another smile to his face, a boost of courage, and Teddy swiped the flat of his tongue over the space, eliciting a moan from the man beneath him, a sound he tried (and failed) to hold back.

At this point, Teddy desperately wanted to move faster, to do anything to gain some friction against the throbbing heat in his groin. He palmed himself hard through his jeans, the pressure easing some of the desire from his immediate thoughts so he could focus.

His lips brushed lower, nipping at the base of ribs while the fingers of his free hand moved down from Billy’s face to roll a delicate nub between them.

Teddy lapped at the curve of a hip bone, jutting from the top of dark jeans before swooping beneath them, a teasing invitation. He could hear the stuttery breathing from the other, glancing up to see that Billy had tossed an arm across his face, the red race of his blush barrelling down to meet the arch of his shoulders.

“Billy,” he whispered, easing himself to his knees on the floor, brushing his fingers across the leather of Billy’s belt, unhooking it slowly before working at the button of his jeans. Teddy looked up, only to see that he was still buried beneath his arm, breathing hard. “Billy?” His fingers stilled, waiting for affirmation, to see that this was okay, that he wasn’t moving too fast. “Hey, look at me.”

Gradually, the other’s breathing slowed, still hard and heavy but something less panicky. He slid his arm off his eyes, leaving it perched on his forehead to replace with a moment’s notice. His dark gaze slid down to Teddy between his knees, body giving a tremble as he whispered his reply. “Please…” Billy rolled his hips up off the bed, pressing towards Teddy’s hand that was hovering over his zipper. “Please, Teddy… I want… I _need_ …” His words disappeared into an incoherent whimper when Teddy brushed his hand over the seam of the zipper and down, applying a gentle pressure to Billy’s erection, causing his hips to roll up again.

That was all the encouragement he needed, moving quickly to pull down the zip and gently tug both jeans and boxers down quivering legs, careful to lift them over his hips. Without the restriction of his pants, Billy’s cock twitched heavy against his stomach, flushed a shade of red to rival his cheeks. Teddy quickly discarded the clothes in his hands, taking a moment to slip off Billy’s socks before pressing a soft kiss to the inside of the other’s knee.

He pressed his thumbs along the grooves of Billy’s hip bones as he mouthed wet kisses along the inside of his thighs. Though his lithe arm still rested along his forehead, Billy’s eyes were trained down, watching Teddy’s progression with his eyes half-lidded. Teddy met his gaze with his own when he reached the base of Billy’s cock, nestled in thick curls of dark hair. His lips were hovering, not yet touching, but feeling the heat rolling off him in waves. “Billy.”

Billy tossed his head to the side, letting a low moan roll from his lips as Teddy licked a heated stripe along the underside of his erection. He pressed delicate kisses to the soft flesh every time it jumped to meet his lips, Billy’s voice keening and whining above him.

“T, _please_.”

His voice send shivers of something hot and heady through Teddy’s spine, and he moved one hand from the other’s hips to fumble with his own zipper. Lips moved slowly, pressing soft against the head of Billy’s cock, his tongue darted out to circle him, to taste the bitter musk before bringing his mouth down around it. He could hear the quiet whimper as hips bucked up, but Teddy held tight and encouraged the other to remain somewhat still as his tongue and lips moved their way around the shuddering warmth between them. His own erection in hand, he started pumping slowly as his tongue mapped swirls and haphazard patterns, rolling gingerly around the head when he pulled back.

There was a cacophony of moans coming from the man under him, one set of lithe digits tangling into golden curls and encouraging him to move faster, to go deeper, to press harder. Teddy groaned and he could feel the shudder it created echo through his mouth, his head bobbing faster now, eyes darting up as he pulled back to lap at the slit, weeping precum, salty and heady on his tongue. Billy watched him, eyes gone dark with need, his hand pressing gently along the back of Teddy’s head, encouraging him to engulf Billy once more. He kept his eyes locked on the other as best he could, increasing his pace and creating a gentle suction, his hand matching the motions of his head. Billy was whimpering and keening, his back arching, undulating upon the mattress. Most of the words were incoherent, a garbled mess of begging and hissing whispers, but Teddy could make out a distinct chain of words.

“Teddy, Teddy, _Teddy_!”

He was close, he could feel his balls drawing tight towards his body as his hips jutted forward into his hand of their own volition. Billy cried out, fingers twisting hard in Teddy’s hair and among the bedding. He was no longer covering his face, his head tilting back in the throes of ecstasy, throat a perfect curve, bared to the air.

“Teddy, I’m…!”

Teddy drew back slightly as Billy bucked his hips up, shuddering his release against the back of his throat. Pumping his hand hard as he swallowed around the other, it only took a few more movements before he groaned, letting Billy slide from his lips as he came between his fingers, dripping along the side of the bed and onto the carpet.

He nestled his forehead in the dip of Billy’s hips, feeling fingers carding slowly through his hair. Teddy rolled his head on the other’s thigh, looking up at him with half-lidded eyes.

Billy was smiling, looking sated and halfway on the path to slumber. He lifted his other hand from the mattress and ran his thumb along Teddy’s reddened lips. “Come here,” he whispered, bringing the same thumb to his own lips and sucking at it. Teddy could feel his weary dick jump in response to the image. “Come lay with me.”

Though he wasn’t sure his legs could support any amount of weight, Teddy managed to urge himself up, perching on the edge of the bed as he tugged off his forgotten tee and jeans, staring at his soiled boxers before shucking those off as well. He turned down the covers and tugged Billy toward him, the contact of skin on skin setting alight his nerves. Billy nestled his face against the hollow of Teddy’s throat, and in turn he buried his nose in dark strands.

“Billy?”

“Yeah, T?”

“I…” The words turned thick and heavy in his throat, a lump of nerves sticking them in place. Billy glanced up at him, a questioning gaze on weary features, and Teddy pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead. “Nevermind. Let’s get some sleep.”

Billy nodded and returned his face to the crook of warmth beneath the blond’s chin, pressing his own soft kisses there and encouraging a steadier pace of breathing. “Yeah,” he whispered, just as Teddy was hovering on the edge of slumber. “Me too.”

~~~~~~

It was warm, really warm, and Billy was certain that he either had a fever or the heating in his hallway was busted again. That’s when he felt the warm press behind him shift and everything came rushing back with clarity.

_Oh._

A smile passed over his lips and he rolled over, edging back into the warm circle of Teddy’s arms, his forehead pressing just beneath the other’s chin, against the curve of his collarbone. He closed his eyes again, breathing in the heavy scent of the detective surrounding him as he drifted back towards sleep.

“Are you up?” He heard the rumble of the question through Teddy’s chest, his voice thick with sleep. Billy buried further into his arms with a quiet sound of complaint.

Teddy chuckled and peppered the crown of his skull with kisses, brushing soothing hands between his shoulder blades. “Would you like some coffee?”

That got him to open one eye and peer blearily at the blond’s face--he was smiling warmly, looking as though he’d already been up for quite some time. Of course Teddy was a morning person, he was too perfect to let the clutches of slumber rule his hours between six and ten. “Yes, please…” he managed to get out, but he was fairly sure it sounded more like a series of grunts than actual words. But the other just smiled and pressed another peck to his forehead, slipping out of bed with ease. Billy mourned the loss of warmth, though he watched through barely-open eyes as Teddy’s (very naked) body moved across the room to fetch a pair of underwear and a tee shirt from the dresser. The sight caused a stir in his groin, but his limbs were too weary to act on it before Teddy had slipped from the room.

Apparently he had fallen back asleep, since he woke to the smell of dark roast on the night table. Slowly Billy sat up, clutching his hands around the hot mug and inhaling a deep mouthful of the stuff. Caffeine sang through him, pulling his mind from its hazy state to something closer to alertness. He could hear Teddy puttering around in the kitchen so he coaxed himself quickly through the first mug before hunting down his clothes. He managed to locate everything but a sock, so he opted for none instead of the ‘I’m really not good with mornings don’t judge me’ look.

He made his way out to the kitchen, falling into a chair at the kitchen table and rattling his empty mug along it. “Please sir, may I have some more?”

Teddy smiled at him over his shoulder, he was fixing something at the stove and he nodded his head towards the opposite counter. “Pot’s right there. I’ll grab it in a sec, but I have to watch this so it doesn’t overcook.”

Billy made some incomprehensible grumbling noises as he slunk across the kitchen, dumping more coffee into his mug and sucking back half of it before returning to the table. He lowered his head onto the smooth surface, lying on his cheek so he could watch what Teddy was doing. Teddy was (unfortunately) fully dressed now, and it looked as though he was wearing the same kind of thing he would normally wear to the office. “Do you have to go in to work today?”

There wasn’t a reply immediately, Teddy dishing up some kind of an egg scramble onto two plates, pulling some toast from the oven and adding it to the stack before approaching the table. He set a plate in front of Billy as he settled on the opposite chair. When he looked up from his heaping plate of eggs and veggies, he smiled sheepishly. “Yeah, I’m sorry. We have the audit to worry about and Kate called this morning with something that might be a lead.”

“On that case that you’re working but not really working?” Billy asked, taking a few delicate bites before scooping up larger and larger forkfuls. He didn’t know how, but everything Teddy made seemed to taste a thousand times better than anything he’d had before--though it could have something to do with eating nothing but crappy residence food and the occasional meal out for the last few months.

“Yeah, that’s the one,” he replied. “But you can stick around here as long as you want, I don’t mind. Just be sure to lock up when you’re done.”

Though the idea of lounging around all day in Teddy’s bed definitely had an appeal, Billy knew that Cassie was badgering him all week to study with them. “I should actually head to the library and get some school stuff taken care of. I’ve got exams coming soon and a big paper due in the next week or so,” he answered around a mouthful of toast.

Teddy fidgeted with his fork, shifting the eggs around his plate. “When can I see you again…?” he asked, glancing up through his lashes across the table.

Billy swallowed around the lump in his throat, feeling his face heat up. “Oh, uh… Soon I hope?” he offered, gnawing at his lip and thinking through his schedule. “This week is going to be a little hectic… But I… I really want to see you again soon. So, uh, how about you shoot me a text or call me when it’s good for you? I mean, if that’s ok. If you’re not super busy and stuff…”

A hand reached across to grasp Billy’s, which had wrapped around the mug in almost a defensive position. He relaxed, meeting the blond’s gaze as their fingers twined. “I’d love that,” Teddy responded with a gentle squeeze and a smile. “I’ll let you know what happens after I sort out today.”

Billy nodded, and they finished their meal with a relaxed silence, hands joined on the surface of the tabletop. His heart was fluttering erratically in his chest, doing swoops and circles whenever he looked Teddy’s way. He told himself not to get too carried away, not to get too caught up too soon, but the pounding in his chest was deciding elsewise.

_I love you._

~~~~~~

They parted ways once the dishes were cleared and Billy had gathered his belongings from around the apartment. The DVD remained in the player since, as the student had put it, ‘you have to finish watching the best piece of cinematic horror genius.’ Though there were no definite plans made, Teddy felt a lightness in his chest as he walked the few blocks to the café that Kate had scheduled to meet him at. He tried to keep his mind from wandering back to the events of the previous night, since he would likely need all of his concentration on the task at hand very shortly.

He stepped into the tiny building, swirls of instrumentals brushing over him in waves as he spotted Kate, tucked away into one of the tables along the back wall. Her hair was coiled in a tight bun against her skull and Teddy knew straight away that whatever she had caught wind of could very well be a big break for them.

Pulling out the chair across from her, he sat with every intention of getting right into the case. But Kate smirked at him and lowered her sunglasses to peer overtop of them. “So, you had a good night.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement, and Teddy fought the blush back from his cheeks.

“What makes you say that?”

“It’s written all over that dopey grin on your face,” she teased, waving the waitress over with a motion for two coffees. “I hope you didn’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Teddy snorted and had to hide his grin behind his palm as the young girl working the shop brought their drinks over. “Right. I’m not sure there’s anything you _wouldn’t_ do. But anyway, that’s not why we’re here?” he asked, raising a brow and sipping at the slightly-burnt roast.

“No, you’re right,” she replied, dropping generous amounts of sugar and creamer into her coffee, likely to make it palatable. “I got a call from Frank, he’s in Narcotics. They’ve been trailing this MGH dealer for a while and one of his ‘clients’ fit our description eerily well.”

“MGH?” he frowned, twisting his hands around the mug between them. “You don’t think that’s how Thomas is getting his powers, do you?”

“I don’t know. I mean, I’m pretty sure it’s not--MGH isn’t known to give people super speed or anything. Just strength and one hell of a mood swing when they’re coming down. But Frank knows where this client is staying, he’s hoping to get him to rat on the dealer.”

“And if it _is_ Thomas…”

“We can get some information from him at the same time. If it is just a drug-created mutation he’s got, it would be a hell of a lot easier to get him to talk to us when he can’t just run away like some fucking jackrabbit.” Kate pulled her phone from her pocket, checking the time. “We should hurry and get moving if we want to meet up with them. They’re going to do the bust at the motel in the next hour.”

“This won’t get back to Rick?” he asked, standing and abandoning his half-consumed coffee on the table, leaving some cash to cover both drinks.

“Frank owes me, and no one else knows we’re going to be there. Hell, most people in narc don’t even know we exist, so that’s a bonus for us.”

“Let’s go then,” he prompted, allowing Kate to lead them out of the café and towards her parked car. They reviewed what they could on the way, and though Teddy was trying not to get his hopes up, he really wanted the opportunity to speak with Thomas one-on-one, to find out what was going on in his head and why this whole case had spiraled so far out of control.

Unfortunately, today was not going to be the day they found him.

By the time they arrived at the run-down motel buried in the belly of Brooklyn, the team from Narcotics was already on the move. They swarmed the small room, shields up and guns wielded at the ready, only to find a whole lot of nothing. Well, nothing as far as Teddy and Kate were concerned--they did find a considerable stash of MGH and a few knives, but no sign that Thomas had been there at all. Kate spoke in hushed tones with her contact, returning to Teddy with a reluctant shake of her head.

“Nothing. Frank says he’ll let me know if they find anything relating this to Thomas, but…”

“Doesn’t look good.”

“No. I think we just turned up another dead end…” she growled, kicking at the tire of her car with the heel of her boot. “Shit! When we find that little bastard, I’m going to smack him so hard upside the head he won’t know what day of the week it is!”

Teddy laughed, tucking an arm around her shoulders and urging her back into the car so they could get out of here before anyone started wondering why two newbies from the investigative division were lingering around a narc crime scene. “Come on. Let me buy you a drink somewhere, we can forget this happened.”

“Yeah,” she huffed, sliding behind the wheel and screeching out of the parking lot, sending a spray of gravel against the side of the motel as she did so.

~~~~~~

It was into the late hours of the evening before Teddy returned home, his mind swimming between the haze of alcohol and the infuriating lack of forward momentum on the Shepherd case. Kate had been overtly apologetic about their false lead, Teddy insisting that a false lead was still better than none at all. They wound up going shot for shot with a bottle of rye--Teddy lost, though he assured Kate it was only because he still had to walk his drunk ass home. She offered him a ride in the cab she’d called, but he’d denied it. The night air helped to clear his head, to bring him back to a grounding level as he approached his building, the lights in his apartment still on from that morning. He must have forgotten to turn them off, his mind considerably distracted as he left the house.

Climbing the stairs, swaying from one step to the next, he pulled out his phone to check his messages. A smile crept onto his face as he tapped out a few quick replies.

 **BILLY:** _OMG. Eli is quizzing us. And FAILING us._

_You know what we get when we answer wrong?_

_TEN MORE QUESTIONS._

_Srsly, Eli is the master of torture._

_Hope your day is filled with less woe than this._

_JFC THIRTY MORE QUESTIONS._

**TEDDY:** _I’m sure it’s for your own good._

_Think of your education._

**BILLY:** _I’d rather think of something else. ;)_

_How was your work thing?_

_The super secret one._

**TEDDY:** _False lead._

_It’s okay, going to try something new tomorrow._

_When can I see you again?_

**BILLY:** _Umm…. Wednesday?_

_Maybe? I’ll let you know closer to?_

**TEDDY:** _Sounds good._

_Good night, Billy._

**BILLY:** _Night! :)_

Teddy was smiling as he pushed open the door to his apartment, slipping out of his shoes and fumbling the lock shut before tripping over the mat in the front hall. He paused, steadying himself with a hand against the wall, listening to the sounds of the TV from the living room. There was a very real panic shuddering through his body, glancing up to see the light reflecting along the hall as some kind of sitcom blared in the background.

Hands shaking, he pulled his gun from its holster at his side, keeping the safety on as he stepped quietly towards the couch, where he could see the back of a hooded head and nothing more. Taking a moment to steady himself, Teddy cleared his throat to announce his presence. The figure on the couch didn’t even flinch. “Who are you and what the fuck are you doing in my house?” he tried, glad that he was able to get control of his voice, lowering the tone and letting the booming demand fill the room.

The man on the couch turned, flicking back the hood as he did so, releasing a wild tangle of shocking white. He raised a brow, just as pale as the shade of his hair, before bringing the neck of the beer bottle back to his lips and taking a swig. Teddy noted it was Sam Adams, probably _his_ Sam Adams from his own damn fridge, and he growled softly, trying to seem intimidating.

Thomas just smiled, a slow, eerie smirk that twisted across his face in a way that was somewhere between malicious and mischievous. “Well, Detective. Welcome home. You’re awfully late, so I helped myself to your fridge,” he added, taking another drink from the bottle, draining it. “By the way, you have shit taste in beer.”

 


	7. Take Me Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Oh.”
> 
> “Oh? I was prepared for a whole lot of girlish screaming about how you get to meet your heroes,” he teased, flicking an eraser at Billy’s head.
> 
> Billy swiped at the projectile with the back of his hand (he’d intended to catch it but his abysmal reflexes struck again) and pulled a face at the comment. “Yeah, yeah. I’m an adult, I can totally have adult reactions to things.”
> 
> “Who are you and what have you done with Billy?”
> 
> “Ha ha ha,” he imitated his best ‘robot laugh,’ which earned him another eyeroll. “I’m screaming on the inside, is that acceptable?”
> 
> “It’ll do, I guess. Are you going?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has taken every ounce of my willpower NOT to post this chapter early! Hah. I hope you all like it, and enjoy the little ‘cameos’ that show up. There are no explicit scenes in this chapter, but as in the last chapter, I will warn when there are (should people want to skip them). Also, there are five weekends in October which means you get an extra side story! If you have any requests, please let me know via comment or tumblr, though I do have a few I am already working on. There will be several side stories posted _after_ aDL is completed, so do not fret, you will have more to read while I wade through ideas for the sequel. :)
> 
> Melerune. You are a butt. I hate you. (Just kidding I love you I am just bitter that you have moved away from my love~) I know you didn’t have a lot of time to look through this chapter, what with running around the world and such, but I really appreciate all of your input and insight. Kuchen, as always, you are my rock, giving me a good prod when I need a direction to follow and a hug when I feel like I’m not sure if that direction is right. Thank you so much for going through this mess, once again.
> 
> [Please come visit me on tumblr! :)](http://amonaewrites.tumblr.com/) (You guys are missing out if you don’t check it, I totally do chapter previews over there.) Also, double points to anyone who gets my ‘sneaky hate spiral’ reference in this chapter!
> 
> Chapters will update on a regular basis, always the first weekend of every month. I have myself on a pretty strict writing schedule as part of my day-to-day, so the only time chapters will be late is if I’m ill or have other serious obligations.

**_“Round in circles_ **

**_Here we go_ **

**_With the highest highs_ **

**_And the lowest lows.”_ **

_Take Me Home by Cash Cash_

 

His mind had slowed, stuttered to a halt in his skull as Teddy tried to process what was happening. Thomas was sitting in _his_ living room, watching some crappy sitcom on _his_ television, and drinking _his_ beer. The kid they had been chasing all over New York was sitting right in front of him, looking for all the world relaxed--as though he had been willing to speak with them all along.

“Aren’t you going to sit down, Detective?”

Thomas looked worse for the wear, that much was true. The hoodie he wore was tattered, with sleeves that were torn and full of holes, the edges of it grimey, like it hadn’t been washed in quite some time. His bright shock of hair was snarled and tangled, with a dark, crusted stain near the back of his skull that could have been blood. There were deep hollows under his eyes as though it had been eons since he last had a good sleep and a smear of dirt ridged along a cut on his left cheek.

Numbly, he moved to sit in the armchair, allowing the youth to take up his couch. Scraping a hand through blond strands, he sighed before speaking. “Thomas, what are you doing here? How do you know where I live?”

“I’ve been following you,” he replied as if his behavior were completely normal.

Teddy supposed it did make things a little clearer; Thomas had been able to keep one step ahead of them at every corner because he already knew their plans. Even if he had only been following Teddy, it would have given him enough information to know where and when they’d be next. It was infuriating and at the same time, he found himself to be at least a little impressed. “So why all of this?” he asked, slumping lower in the armchair and pressing his palms against his eyes. “Why all the leaving notes and sneaking about? Why didn’t you just skip town if you didn’t want to be found?”

There was a silence, an echo of laughter erupting from the television, and Teddy was almost able to _hear_ the other vibrating with thought.

“It’s… complicated,” Thomas insisted, his voice wary. “My ‘parents’ aren’t quite… what they seem. What they’re after… they can’t get it. If they do, we are all so, super, extremely fucked.”

Teddy couldn’t believe that Thomas actually used air quotes around ‘parents.’

“So why not just leave?”

“There’s someone else here they want to get their hands on, but they haven’t found him yet.” He was chewing at the edge of his thumbnail, ruining it to the point of drawing blood before moving to the next digit. “I can’t let that happen.”

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Teddy encouraged his brain to keep up, even though it was drifting among the alcohol in his system. “Okay, so, why didn’t you just come to us? To the police?”

Thomas stared at him, bright eyes reflecting the green from the television, seeming twice as vibrant. He actually _laughed_ , threw back his head and laughed at the idea. “Are you fucking kidding me? A bunch of cops are **not** going to be able to deal with this. I already tried talking to the Avengers but, ah, I don’t have the best track record with them…”

Raising a brow, he waved his hand to encourage the young man to continue.

“I may or may not have played some wicked practical jokes that involved plastic wrap on everything from door frames to toilet seats.”

Teddy groaned and scrubbed his hand across his face. “Okay, so let me get this straight. One: you can’t leave town because the people who are after you are also after someone else. Two: you can’t go to the police for help because they won’t be enough. Three: you can’t get help from the people who actually _could_ help because you pissed them off with juvenile pranks?”

“Yeah, that pretty much sums it up,” he answered, scratching at the stubble on his chin. “Also, this is going to seem completely douchey of me, but can I crash here tonight? I think they found my last hide-out and I don’t really want to go back there to find out.”

“On two conditions,” Teddy murmured, refocusing his attention. “You don’t wreck anything in my house and you answer some of my questions.”

Thomas studied him for a moment, and Teddy could nearly see the rapid flow of information being processed behind emerald eyes. There was a quick nod of his head and then the young man was jutting out his hand, offering it across the arm of the couch. “Tommy. No one calls me Thomas.”

“Right,” he grunted in response before reaching to shake the offered limb. Teddy felt his stomach churn from the movement and he somehow convinced it to quell his unease for now. “So, Tommy. Why exactly have you been following me?”

He saw the agitation roiling along Thomas’s thin frame, his body a blur of sharp lines as he bolted from the couch, paced to the far end of the room and began a circuit around the small apartment. All throughout his rapid movements, he spoke, nearly as fast. “At first it was just a way of watching them, keeping an eye on them, trying to see what they were up to. But then it was pretty clear that you and that chick you’re partnered with weren’t about to hand me over to them even if you did find me.”

Teddy snorted. Kate would have been ready to murder the cocky youth the second he called her a ‘chick.’ It made for an entertaining mental picture in his pickled brain. Thomas didn’t even flinch, just continued speaking as if Teddy weren’t even there.

"But then... Things got complicated. There is a lot more to your little ‘investigation’ than you guys are aware of. It's important for you to step off, but you also gotta distance yourself from people you care about. You're in too deep now." Thomas paused in his paces, gaze shimmering back to Teddy, waiting for an answer, a realization, something. _Anything_.

The blond chuckled from his position in the chair, turning from the agitated young man to pick at a loose thread twisted around a knotted button on the arm. “Are you threatening me, Mister Shepherd?”

Thomas snarled and leapt back into his aggravated movements, stalking the length of the room in less span than a blink and settling his hands onto the edge of Teddy’s seat. His bright eyes were full of anger, frustration, and fear; there was so much trepidation buzzing beneath the surface, hiding under a cocky and sure-fire exterior. The detective found himself quickly re-evaluating the situation.

“If I was threatening you,” the young man hissed, baring his teeth, “you’d know it. Keep the fuck away from Billy.”

That veered into a direction that threw Teddy’s mind way off-course. “What?” Brows knit together in a bewildered snarl on his forehead as he tried to puzzle through Thomas’s words. “What does Billy have to do with any of this?”

“Nothing, everything!” he growled, darting off to the other end of the room before Teddy could even formulate another word. Thomas was pacing in a frenzied pattern across the apartment, flickering from sight as he shifted between side rooms and out to the cramped balcony.

"Wait, slow down," Teddy murmured, trying to wrap his head around his confusion. "You're not making any sense."

Thomas had vanished again, somewhere among the confined space of his apartment. Unlike the last few times, he didn't immediately re-emerge.

_Did he leave?_

"Jesus fucking Christ!"

_Guess not._

"Thom--Tommy?" He corrected himself halfway through his words, not wanting to add to the man's agitation by mucking up his name. There was a rustling in the bedroom, followed by more cursing, and Teddy frowned as he hauled himself from his seat and wavered his way towards the eruption of sound.

"What are you doing?" He lingered at the doorway, reluctant to enter his own bedroom, to approach the blur of motion pulsing between the four walls. It was though someone were pacing at a hundred miles an hour, and he didn’t particularly want to get in the line of fire. "Tommy?"

"What am _I_ doing? No, what the fuck are _you_ doing?!" He shouted, thrusting out his hand, knuckles clenched to white around a small flap of leather covered in brightly colored designs. "Why the fuck is this here!"

It took much longer than it should have to discern what the object was that Tommy was flailing at him; Teddy would like to blame it on the rapidity of the movements and not the slowness of his own mind. “A… wallet?” he offered as the pieces started to fall into place.

“ _Billy’s_ wallet. Why the fuck is **Billy’s fucking wallet** in your god damned bedroom!”

“Tommy, calm down.”

“Calm down?! You guys are already fucking! Jesus christ, you were just broken up like two days ago! You need to stay the fuck **away** from him!”

Teddy pressed his palms against his eyes, hard. There was a snarling, spitting, griping young man dashing between the four walls of his bedroom and he was ill-equipped to deal with it in his current state. So his brain may or may not have been firing on all cylinders when he retorted with a deep, heavy growl.

“No.”

The pale blur that had been Thomas pacing at full speed halted on the center of the bed, his grubby sneakers tangled in the comforter. “Ex _cuse_ me?”

“No. I’m not going to stop seeing Billy. Not with some half-assed reason like ‘oh but you really shouldn’t because everything will go to shit.’ That’s not a real reason, Thomas,” he hissed, clutching the edge of the doorframe with a white-knuckled grip to keep himself from launching across the small space and strangling the youth on his bedspread.

"How about if you don't then you're both probably going to _die_? How's that for a reason?"

Teddy stared at the other's shoes, twisted among his sheets, sheets that would still smell like Billy. The sneakers were falling apart at the seams, literally run through by the speedster. How long had he been running?

"I'll protect him." He heard his own tone, but didn't remember voicing the declaration. Despite this, Teddy knew in his marrow it was true--he’d protect Billy no matter the cost.

Thomas didn't share the sentiment, barking out a harsh burst of laughter the moment there was quiet in the small bedroom. His head was thrown back, bright hair spilling away from a wide forehead while he cackled at the water-stained ceiling. "You? Really? What do you think you're going to do, _shapeshifter_?"

Bristling, the detective squared his shoulders and made a show of looking larger, more intimidating. His skin took on a greenish hue as his body expanded, fingers stretching into deadly looking claws. “I’ll protect him,” Teddy insisted, his voice echoing into the room as an audible snarl.

There was a stillness between them, a silence stretching into uncomfortable territory while they stared each other down across the small space. Then Teddy blinked and the young man was gone, only a gnarled tangle of filthy bedding around a brightly colored wallet remaining.

It took him several minutes to will away the thick claws and several minutes more to force his breathing to a regular pattern. He yanked the sheets from the bed in a flurry, tucking Billy’s wallet away with his own in the back pocket of his jeans. It wasn’t until Teddy was standing, stock-still in the center of his cramped laundry room with his breath coming in heavy gasps, that he realized how quickly his heart was thundering in his chest. He recognized the prick of tears at the corners of his eyes and urged them away just as quick.

“Fuck,” he hissed as he jammed the sheets into the washing machine.

“ _Fuck_.”

~~~~~~

There was the blaring tone of an obnoxious ringer bursting into the stillness of slumber for both occupants of the bed. One lump growled and rolled over, pillow dragging across his ears as he did so, the other sitting up and blearily answering the cell.

“This had better be important,” Kate grumbled, slipping out of bed and padding into the hallway, lest she wake the other occupant of her bed.

“Kate?”

Ted sounded wrecked, his voice shuddering through the phone line on the tail end of what may have been a sob.

“What happened?” she asked, mind immediately whirring along all of the options, skirting across several prior to landing on the obvious. “Is it something to do with Billy?”

Kate knew when he got like this, when he got so wrapped up in his own demons and fears they pulled him under, dragging him so close to his past self, the Ted she recognized got lost somewhere along the way. The noise that echoed back through the line was a harsh, hiccoughing sort of sound, escaping before he managed to get a hold on the outpouring of emotions. She took a deep, steadying breath, moving to the kitchen as she spoke. It was probably going to be a long night.

“What’s wrong?” she asked once the stuttering attempts at a sentence on the other end of the line had calmed.

“It’s Thomas. Sorry, Tommy. He was at my apartment.”

“What?” Kate paused, her hand lingering on the brass handle of the kettle, halfway along it’s arching route towards the stove. “Thomas? Why? And why are you calling him Tommy?”

“We spoke. Sort of. He mostly yelled at me,” came the hushed reply. Kate could hear the sound of night breezes and a dim hiss of traffic--Ted must have stepped outside.

“Is he still there?” It’d be too convenient, too easy to have all the pieces fall into their lap when they’d only just begun to strike their own path.

A heavy sigh answered her.

"Ah, I guess not then."

"Kate, he was... He was talking about Billy. He knew who Billy was."

She poured herself a large mug of tea before settling with her back against the counter in a lazy lean. "So? I mean, if he's been following you he would know who Billy is, right?"

"But the way he said it... It sounded like I might be putting Billy in danger too by pulling him into all of this."

There was a strangled lilt on the edge of Ted's words, a break as though he were struggling through the sentence. "What do you want to do?"

"Huh?"

"We have two options, assuming that anything Thomas says is true. And at this point, I'm not entirely sure he isn't just batshit crazy." The mug clinked softly against the counter as she put it down, pushing on when she didn't hear a reply from the other end of the call. "Either you can do as he says and back off, explain to Billy what is happening and hope he understands. Mind you, this option does come with the possibility that Billy won't believe you and will assume that you are trying to get rid of him."

"I’d never--"

"Ted, let me finish."

"Sorry... Go on." His voice had a bit more of himself in it, the sturdy attentiveness she relied on.

Kate smiled to herself before continuing. "The second option is we completely disregard the whole 'warning,' play it a little safer, and you’ll have to take responsibility of whatever consequences will come of it. You will have to keep him safe if something does happen."

“I know. I would never let anything happen to Billy.”

She could hear it, the faint crackle along the backbone of his sentence, the undercurrent of emotion that she hadn’t quite been able to grasp on her own without letting it slip away first. Beneath the fierce determination, the unwavering courage, and the undisputed loyalty--there it was, burning hot and bright enough for her to hear halfway across the city.

“Yeah, I know. Now try to get some sleep, Ted. We can discuss this in the morning. It will all work out, it always does.”

_He will be fine._

“Okay. Thanks again, Kate…” There was the oval sound of a yawn at the tail end of her name and she knew he was probably halfway back to his bed.

“G’night, Ted.”

“Night. See you in the morning.”

“Yeah. In the morning.” Kate hung up when she was sure he had no more to say, retrieving her lukewarm tea and sipping gingerly. It was bitter; she had left the bag in and it had steeped too long, but for the moment she didn’t mind.

She chuckled at her reflection in the liquid surface, wavering lines about her features while her hands shook with exhaustion.

“You found it, huh Ted?” she whispered to herself in the flourescent light of the kitchen. “‘Bout damn time.”

~~~~~~

“Hey, Cassie. Can I borrow a twenty?” Billy was buried up to his elbows in his backpack, rifling through the assortment of lint and loose change for the familiar feel of soft leather.

“Your parents finally cut you off?” she asked, smiling as she handed over a crumpled bill from the bottom of her purse.

“Ha ha, no. I just can’t find my damn wallet. I must have left it somewhere…”

_Oh._

And with sudden ripening clarity, Billy knew exactly where he’d left (or rather, abandoned) his wallet. He felt his cheeks flush and focused his gaze down, into the depths of his backpack, but it was too late.

“Oh my GOD Billy!” Cassie all but screeched, causing a few students walking by their bench to turn and stare. “You totally slept wi--”

“Cassie! Shut up!” he hissed, hands cupped across her mouth to stifle any further embarrassment, though he was sure his cheeks were hot enough to give him away. Cautiously, he moved his palms from her face when it became obvious she wasn’t going to holler it from the rooftops anymore.

“Jeeze… You don’t have to be so mean about it,” she said, jutting her lower lip out in a distinct effort at the puppy-dog face. Too bad he was immune from years of exposure to the twins.

Well, mostly immune.

“Sorry I’d just rather not have the whole campus know.” His hands pressed to his burning cheeks instead, trying to cool them.

There was a stillness between them, Billy keeping his face buried in his digits while Cassie smoothed out the twenty dollar bill in her hands. He should have known the comfortable silence wouldn’t last long.

“So… how was he?”

“CASSIE! Oh my god,” he wailed, bending at the waist and pressing his forehead to his knees in an attempt to hide himself from the bustle of students walking by.

“What? I want all the nitty gritty,” she said, moving so she could peer at his face. This left her in a crouched position on the floor, clutching at his knees while she tried her hardest to get a look at his expression. Billy was sure that everyone walking by thought he’d just been crying or possibly still was, but he didn’t care. He was able to feel how hot the back of his neck was, so he knew his complexion would be just as bad.

“I’ll tell you later,” Billy relented, tilting his head just enough to peer at her face, seeing the huge grin blossom there. “But no telling anyone else!”

Cassie made a swift ‘X’ with her index finger across her chest, smile never wavering for a second. “Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye.”

“Ew.”

“C’mon. I’ll buy you lunch,” she said, giving his knees a thwack before grabbing her backpack.

Slowly he managed to pry himself off the bench, pressing the back of his hand to his cheeks to check if the temperature in them was still absurdly high. Things seemed to be back to normal, so Billy slung his bag over a shoulder and followed Cassie to one of the several cafeterias on campus. They talked about class, what their plans were for the weekend, and whether or not the Avengers would be holding a press conference anytime soon--all the while sidestepping the questions Billy knew were burning a hole through Cassie’s brain.

Billy had shot a quick text off to see if Teddy knew the location of his missing wallet, but hadn’t received a reply. He knew that work had really exploded for the pair at the precinct, Cassie mentioned a few late-night phone calls from a wound-up Kate, though she wouldn’t say whether it was work or relationship stress that was involved. Billy had a sneaking suspicion they were wrapped up in trying to keep the case they were not-really-working-on under wraps while they prepped for the audit. From what Teddy had revealed (and Billy was grateful that he finally seemed to be opening up, at least a little), they’d be up to their necks in it for the next while.

“Billy?” Cassie asked, prodding him with the end of her chopsticks. “Your phone is ringing.”

“What? Oh!” He cursed as he fumbled with the lock screen, answered the phone automatically without looking to see who it was. “Hello, Billy speaking.”

“Hello, Billy speaking. This is Teddy calling.”

“Teddy!” Billy could hear that his voice was too loud, saw the way Cassie’s face lit up and her eyebrows waggle from across the table. He waved her off and turned slightly in his seat, aiming for a bit more privacy in the crowded room. “Sorry, what’s up?”

“Not much, just wondered when you might be free this week. I seem to be holding something hostage that belongs to you.” There was a teasing lilt in Teddy’s words and Billy felt the knot that had been building in his chest slowly unravelling. A small part of his mind had worried incessantly about whether or not the blond would even want to hang around him anymore, the nagging feeling that a distance may be growing between them all over again. Of course, it was mostly like his mind taking off in a delusional spiral fueled by an illogical paranoia, but who was keeping track of that stuff anyway?

“So you found it?”

“Something like that. When can I meet you?”

Billy tried not to read too much into the eagerness in the other’s tone. “Oh, uh… tonight I’m free? If you aren’t too crazy with work I mean.” In the corner of his eye he spotted Cassie, distinctly trying to lean across the table and listen in on his phone call. He turned further away.

“Sounds good. I’ll swing by around six? We can grab dinner somewhere, my treat.”

Nodding and scooting his chair as far as he was able to from Cassie’s prying gaze he smiled. “Yeah. That sounds awesome. See you soon?”

“See you soon.”

By the time he hung up the call, his friend was perched near the edge of his chair, intently hovering around the tail end of his conversation. “Sooooo…?”

He shoved at her with his shoulder, stuffing his phone back into the pocket of his hoodie. “So?”

“Billy!” she complained, pouting once more. “Don’t make me bring up that-which-will-not-be-discussed-in-public.”

“Fine, fine, we’re going for dinner tonight,” he answered, heaving a sigh and picked at the remainder of his lunch. While his stomach had stopped doing uneasy flip-flops, he still found the teriyaki chicken as unappetizing as before. He vaguely heard Cassie chittering beside him, some rambling about how he better not wear an ugly hoodie, but his mind had wandered back to the inexplicable twist of concern burrowed at the base of his gut.

Something felt… _off_ , but he couldn’t put a name or even an idea to the sensation.

“Billy?”

“Huh? Oh, sorry I kind of zoned out for a minute there,” he said, turning to face her with the beginnings of a smile. The look tumbled from his features, however, when he spotted a young man watching them from across the room. He wasn’t seated like the rest of the student body, but leaning against one of the supporting pillars around the periphery, a pair of thick sunglasses settled atop a shock of near-white hair. Billy frowned at him, but the stranger just grinned, waggling his fingers in an approximation of a wave. He felt like he was back in the haunted house, staring at the distorted image of his own reflection--was this the runaway that Teddy had been looking for?

Billy made to stand, but Cassie was quicker, blocking his view for a split second while she asked if he was feeling alright. In the time it took him to refocus his attention on the pillar, no one was there. He shook himself as the edge of a tremor ran up his spine.

“Yeah, sorry. I’m fine. We should get to class, right?” he offered, plastering a smile on his face and hoping he looked at least halfway to normal. Cassie seemed to buy it, or at least was clever enough to pretend she did, and they headed off to their afternoon classes.

No matter how hard he tried to maintain attention on his surroundings, his mind kept twisting back to that weird, unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach, which had only gotten worse after seeing his doppleganger.

_I can talk to Teddy. He’ll know what to do._

Even though he tried to focus on the evening ahead, on trying to work through whatever this was, Billy couldn’t shake the overarching concern he felt with the whole situation. Something about it just didn’t feel right, almost like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

~~~~~~

True to his word, Teddy arrived at Billy’s building promptly at six o’clock, checking his watch a few times to make sure he wasn’t obscenely early. The day had been a frenzied blur of activity, he and Kate were still teetering precariously on the edge of their job security after the mess with their impromptu sting and the audit. They had managed to get all of the required items completed, but that didn’t mean that the auditor wouldn’t fail them--he was fairly certain that the middle-aged woman who audited them was going to ruin the department based on the bags under their eyes. He scrubbed a hand through his hair, tugging gently in an attempt to keep himself awake and alert, the effects of his last coffee already retreating from his system.

He was about three seconds away from pulling out his cell and firing off a text to Billy when he saw the young man barrelling out of the double doors and into the brisk autumn air. He waved and received a wave in return, but he could see that Billy was chatting animatedly with someone on the phone. Teddy waited while the other approached, still talking on his cell but smiling once he was close enough for the blond to hear what he was saying.

“Yeah, I will. I know, I’ll make sure to bring warm clothes. No, I’m not bringing someone. _Moooom_ ,” he wailed, rolling his eyes dramatically at Teddy while making a ‘blah blah blah’ motion towards the phone. “Uh huh. I will. Okay. Love you too, bye.”

Billy flashed him a lopsided grin and Teddy felt his heart tilt in unison. “Sorry about that, Mom wanted to know when I was coming home for the break.”

“Oh, I guess that is coming up pretty quick,” he responded, threading his fingers with the other’s as they walked among the crowded streets. Students were milling like a distracted swarm of bees, staring at books or electronics as they passed. A few blocks further and everything quieted down, giving way to the normal buzz of New York foot traffic. “You’re heading home then?”

“Yeah, just to the Upper West Side though. Not too far. How about you?”

“Mom’s probably going to make another botched attempt at a ‘turkey,’ so I should probably be there for moral support when we inevitably order Chinese and serial-watch Buffy,” Teddy said, stifling a chuckle at the memory of last year’s (soy-based, vegan, organic) attempt at a Thanksgiving bird.

Billy nudged closer, his head touching to a broad shoulder for a brief moment as they wandered the side streets. “That sounds nice.”

“It’s kind of a tradition at this point,” he grinned, slowing them to a stop outside the tiny corner restaurant. “Here we go, is this okay?”

“Does it have botched attempts at turkey?”

“No, I’m afraid that’s a Sarah Altman special,” Teddy teased, jostling Billy’s shoulder playfully prior to heading inside. The interior was sparsely decorated, dark wood-panelled walls and cushy leather armchairs making up the majority of the ‘character.’ Noting their still-linked hands, the waitress beamed at them and led the pair off to a cozy corner booth near the window. Teddy made a mental note to give her a good tip, he’d rarely seen this particular table open.

Reaching into his coat pocket, he pulled out the colorful leather wallet and placed it in the center of the table, among the candles and vase of baby’s breath. “Sorry that I didn’t notice this earlier. I’m, ah, not quite sure how it ended up hiding in plain sight but...”

“I don’t think either of us were really keeping tabs on my wallet at that point,” Billy teased, snagging it from the table and tucking it away before laying his hands back on the wooden surface, fiddling with the tea lights.

Teddy snagged his hand to stop the fidgeting, offering a soft smile. “So, when are you going home? For Thanksgiving, that is?”

“Probably the twenty-fourth.”

“We might not get to see a whole lot of each other before then.” Teddy was absentmindedly  brushing his thumb back and forth across a pale palm as he spoke, so he felt rather than saw the jolt of panic arching through the other’s frame.

“Oh?”

When he glanced up, he saw the wild assumptions accumulating behind dark eyes and he gave Billy’s hand a gentle squeeze. “Hey, I just mean between school and work we might not have a lot of coinciding spare time. That’s all.”

Teddy had plastered a smile on his face, hoping it was doing a decent job of hiding his latent concerns. He still felt rattled from Thomas’s impromptu visit the night before and a segment of his mind was wondering if there had been validity in the speedster’s concern. With Billy returning his smile, albeit hesitantly, he found the courage to speak up again.

“But we can make some solid plans for after the holidays? Once everything settles down a little?” he offered, watching the twist of emotions flutter across pale features.

“Yeah,” Billy nodded, his voice sounding unsure until he cleared his throat and repeated himself. “Yeah, that sounds good. I’ve got a few assignments due before the break too, and I should get some studying in since I will probably spend most of the holidays in a food coma.”

Teddy laughed and the evening seemed to flow smoothly from that point, despite the undercurrent of anxiety still bubbling beneath the surface. He was doing his best to remain as calm and as chatty as normal (which usually meant listening to Billy and offering a quip here or there), but he heard the straining edge in the other’s voice.

_Please don’t let me fuck this up._

_Don’t let anything happen to this. To him._

_Please._

~~~~~~

The holidays were looming ever closer and with them came the threat of being stuck in his room across the entirety of the break while trying to hide from his siblings, who were bound to make his life a living hell over the few days he was there. It didn’t help that his usual distraction seemed to blow him off at every given opportunity since his wallet had been returned. As that was several days ago, Billy was pretty sure something was up between them, and it probably wasn’t something good. Though the rational side of his mind knew that it was most likely because of the detective’s workload (which had doubled since Kate and Teddy were working on the runaway case during their own time), the much larger, irrational part of his brain insisted that it had been a wrongdoing on his part. That somehow, he had driven the other away with his words or actions.

_Maybe I came on too strong._

_Maybe I said something super offensive and he just didn’t want to tell me?_

_Oh my god, I’m horrible in bed. I knew it._

“Earth to Billy.”

“What?” he asked, blinking out of his sneaky hate spiral and focusing on Eli’s questioning glance.

“I asked if you had talked to Cassie yet today,” Eli stated calmly, though it was obvious he was repeating words spoken at least twice already.

Billy frowned and checked his phone, which indicated that there were no missed messages. “No, why? I thought she was just out sick or something.”

Heaving a sigh, Eli pressed the pads of his thumbs against the arch of his brows in an attempt to relieve the headache Billy assumed was coming on. “You do remember what tomorrow is, right?”

“Uh…. Saturday?”

“Saturday, the twenty-first of November. As in the anniversary of--”

“Oh. **OH**. Shit.”

_Stupid, stupid, stupid!_

“Yeah. How did you forget?” There was that little furrow of disappointment in the middle of Eli’s forehead and it made Billy feel like even more of an asshole.

“Sorry, just… got sidetracked I guess?” he buried his face in his arms while he muttered out the rest of his response. “Do you know what she’s doing this year?”

“I think she’s going to the mansion and then the grave, but I could be wrong on that. You should text her, I think she wants company this time around.”

“That bad?”

Eli nodded and turned back to his notes while Billy fumbled with his phone, writing and rewriting the same texts over and over again. Nothing sounded right, so he wound up sending a string of lame texts he didn’t expect to get an answer to. His phone buzzed a few seconds after the last one was sent.

**BILLY:** _Hi_

_How are you doing?_

_Ok, that was a stupid question. Feel free to ignore it._

**CASSIE:** _what r u doin 2morrow_

**BILLY:** _Nothing, why?_

**CASSIE:** _come 2 A mansion with me_

_u can bring Teddy_

_u big nerds :)_

**BILLY:** _u sure?_

**CASSIE:** _yah_

_i could use the moral support_

Staring at his phone for an exceedingly long period of time, Billy tried to decipher what exactly Cassie meant by her messages. Eventually, he gave up and turned to Eli. “She wants me to come to the mansion with her? And bring Teddy?” he offered, speaking as if both of those options were illogical and improbable, though his internal fanboy was screeching at the idea of actually being _inside_ the mansion (and not just through Google Street View).

“Yeah. I think Kate is going too.” Eli didn’t mention his own plans, though Billy knew that the other wouldn’t be caught dead within three feet of the Avenger’s mansion on a personal front, so he assumed Cassie didn’t even run the idea by him.

“Oh.”

“Oh? I was prepared for a whole lot of girlish screaming about how you get to meet your heroes,” he teased, flicking an eraser at Billy’s head.

Billy swiped at the projectile with the back of his hand (he’d intended to _catch_ it but his abysmal reflexes struck again) and pulled a face at the comment. “Yeah, yeah. I’m an adult, I can totally have adult reactions to things.”

“Who are you and what have you done with Billy?”

“Ha ha ha,” he imitated his best ‘robot laugh,’ which earned him another eyeroll. “I’m screaming on the inside, is that acceptable?”

“It’ll do, I guess. Are you going?”

He looked back at the series of texts and nodded. “Yeah. I’ll tell Teddy what’s up and see if he’s up for that kind of thing.”

“Hey, Billy?”

“Yeah?”

“Give her a hug from me, will you?” Eli’s face was buried behind a textbook, but Billy was pretty sure that it was a farce to hide his embarrassment.

“I will.”

~~~~~~

Somewhere behind a mountain of paperwork echoed an agonized groan as Teddy tried, for what felt like the millionth time that week, to catch up on everything they had fallen behind on. For the entirety of seven days, he and Kate had stayed well past five o’clock to try and get everything that Rick was throwing at them completed. There was also the constant buzz in their department regarding the possibilities of the audit and what it might mean--they wouldn’t receive the results for weeks yet, and just the thought of potentially failing made Teddy want to curl up and hide. It couldn’t mean anything good for himself, or Kate, though he knew her connections were able to float her past even a tough scrape like the one they were in. His own options were much more limited.

Sifting through another stack, he frowned at the variety of paperwork jammed together in one pile. He was beginning to think their supervisor knew what they were up to, and was keeping them from going after Tommy for answers by keeping them buried under ‘official’ police business. More often than not, this involved filing other department’s paperwork that somehow wound up on their desk.

“How did we even get this roadwork complaint? And what do people think the police are going to do about slow morning commutes?” he complained, chucking the slip of paper into the ‘file-away-forever’ pile that was growing on the floor.

“I think they want us to ticket them for speeding through construction zones,” Kate muttered from the far side of the room where she was shrugging into her jacket. “Are you coming?”

“I’m going to do a bit more here and then head over to the mansion. You’re going to Cassie’s for a bit first, right?” Glancing up from the small theft claim, he caught her weak smile before she turned to go.

“Yeah. Don’t be late, alright? This is important to her, to have us there.” Kate was fiddling with the ends of her scarf prior to twisting it in an elegant loop around her neck, tugging her hair from the folds. There was an edge to her voice, hard and yet an inch from cracking. Teddy offered her his best smile with a slight nod of his head.

“I’ll be there. Don’t worry.”

“See you soon.”

Kate drifted from the room before he was able to say anything more, clicking the door shut behind her. He heard the echo of her heels down the hall and he waited until they drifted off prior to grabbing his cell and turning it on. Over the last few days, he’d forced himself to turn it off--the temptation was too much when he had easy access to Billy’s number, and the constant texting was starting to make the guilt in his stomach well and lurch. Though he’d made the decision not to let Thomas’s ‘warning’ change things in his relationship, it seemed to be having an effect regardless of his intentions. Teddy didn’t believe that they were in any real danger from a set of middle-aged parents, even though the runaway seemed more than ready to keep dashing from them until the end of time.

But he couldn’t help the niggling feeling at the back of his mind that something was still foul about the whole situation. The string of texts that flared to life across his display screen gave him pause, and put the start of a smile on his lips.

**BILLY:** _So you are coming today, right?_

_Because srsly_

_AVENGERS MANSION_

_Not to fanboy or anything_

_BUT SRSLY_

Teddy chuckled under his breath and typed out a quick reply before sorting the documents in front of him into more manageable piles. If he compartmentalized everything, he may be able to pick up where he left off tomorrow and get through things more quickly than if he left it a mess.

Now if only he could apply the same reasoning to the whorl of emotions in his gut.

~~~~~~

The November morning was crisp, too cold to be lingering outdoors for long, but Billy hung around the huge entrance to the Avengers mansion, puffing air into his clasped hands. He hadn’t caught sight of the others yet, though he suspected Cassie may have arrived early and already be inside--there just wasn’t a chance in hell he was going to ring the buzzer to find out. What would he even say?

_Hi, I’m Billy Kaplan. I’m friends with Antman’s daughter and she totally told me to be here as part of her moral support crew. By the way, big fan, please excuse my frantic drooling?_

Oh yeah, that’d go over _great_.

“C’mon Teddy…” he whispered, huffing out another breath as he wrapped his arms around himself, trying to regain some semblance of warmth. It was all he could do to keep himself still instead of freaking out about being _so close_ to the home of his heroes.

At least if Teddy were here, they’d be able to have a mutual nerd freak-out and he wouldn’t feel like such a bumbling idiot trying to keep his excited screeching to a minimum. Fumbling with his phone, Billy used his icy digits to hammer out a text before jamming his hands as deep into his pockets as he could.

_Should have worn gloves…_

Just when he was deliberating on the consequences of either calling Cassie (and potentially interrupting a private or emotional moment) or attempting to scale the huge walls surrounding the mansion (which was probably a one-way trip to jail), Billy spotted the glint of sun on a head of golden locks. Offering an extravagant wave (not returned--that was odd), he jogged closer to the other until he noted the slight droop to his broad shoulders and the etched lines between his brows. Something was definitely up.

“Hey Teddy, ‘bout time. I thought you were gonna blow me off,” he teased before his wording came slamming into conscious realization. Billy felt his cheeks scorch as he stammered out an addendum. “Uh, I mean… Yeah, that definitely came out wrong. I thought you weren’t coming.”

_Super smooth. Now you definitely seem nervous._

The detective didn’t seem to pick up on his skittish behavior, just flashing a gentle smile and nudging his shoulder against Billy’s. “Sorry. I was trying to catch up on work a little. Have you seen Cassie yet?”

Billy shook his head, letting the issue of his own concerns drop. “Nah, I think she might have gone in already but…” He glanced to the sprawling building behind them, swallowing around the lump of nerves in his throat. “I really don’t know if I should just go ringing the buzzer, you know? It’s not like they’re expecting us.”

“Maybe she already told them?”

“Maybe… But what if she didn’t? And they kick us out or call the cops or something.”

Teddy laughed, the grin on his face a bit more _him_. “Maybe. But wouldn’t that be _awesome_?” he teased, moving towards the intercom attached to the imposing archway. “I mean, it’s not every day you can say that Captain America kicked your ass to the curb, right?”

“It’s way more likely that it would be one of the Iron Legion, but yeah. I catch your drift,” Billy said, approaching the gate and hovering next to the other. “Aren’t you gonna push it?”

“You push it.”

“No way. I was perfectly content to sit here and freeze for all of time.”

“So you’re giving up this chance to get kicked out by a robot?”

“Well, you do make it sound awfully tempting…”

“Are you dorks just gonna stand here all day or what?”

Both men turned quickly on their heels--Teddy’s finger lingering just above the buzzer on the intercom--to face Cassie and a bemused Kate.

“We were just waiting for you!” Billy said, his voice a bit louder than he intended but he bustled over to the pair prior to anyone pointing out the nervous twitch in his tone. He pulled Cassie into a quick hug, watching some kind of silent conversation pass between Kate and Teddy. “How are you doing?” he whispered, reluctant to let her go until he knew she was holding her own.

“I’m doing okay. I’m glad you guys came,” she answered, pulling back enough to brush a twist of unruly hair from his forehead. Cassie’s brows furrowed, and she spoke her next words softly. “Are you okay?” She glanced at Teddy then back to the young man in front of her, obviously picking up on the underlying tension that Billy had been trying hard to ignore.

“Yup! Everything is peachy!” he chimed, removing himself from her grasp before she could ask any more questions. “So… what’s the plan? I hope you didn’t bring me all the way out here so I can loiter at the gates.”

“Well I _guess_ I can let you have a peek, if you promise not to have a complete meltdown the second you’re in the door.” Cassie stepped up to the intercom, giving Teddy a smile and a quick hug prior to pressing the buzzer. “Hey Jarvis, it’s Cassie. I brought some friends, is that okay?”

Billy moved to his boyfriend’s side, winding an arm through the crook of his elbow both to steal warmth and have an excuse to be closer. He raised both brows at Teddy, mouthing a silent ‘THE Jarvis?!’ and felt like the grin on his face was starting to border on the insane. Part of his brain still wasn’t comprehending the fact that he was here, standing outside of **the** Avengers mansion and was about to go **INSIDE** it--to see the places where Cap and Iron Man and the Scarlet Witch had called home.

Yeah, he might be fangasming just a little.

“Of course, Miss Lang. We’ve been expecting you. I believe the Captain is awaiting you in the vestibule.”

Make that a lot. A whole lot.

“Oh, he didn’t have to do that. I don’t wanna bug him.”

“He was quite insistent, Miss.”

Cassie let out the edge of a huff before shrugging. “Well, okay. But he really doesn’t have to.”

“Of course, Miss Lang.”

There was a mechanical buzz as the gates swung open and Billy sensed his heart rate skyrocketing. He couldn’t stop himself from blurting out, “The _**Captain** _ is waiting for you? As in, **THE** Captain?”

He was pretty sure dogs were the only ones who were able to hear the end of that sentence. Beside him, he felt Teddy holding back laughter with a barely-restrained chortle. Billy nudged him in the side with his elbow for good measure.

“Is there another Captain here I don’t know about?” Cassie asked, completely side-stepping his question as she and Kate headed towards the imposing form of the mansion.

Billy remained a few steps back, the blond man keeping a silent pace beside him. Tightening his grip into a squeeze, he glanced at Teddy’s features--they were impossibly still, not the slightest inkling of excitement or nervousness or _anything_ on his face. It’s like they took three great big steps backwards in the span of a week. There was the beginning of an angry little spark twisting at the base of Billy’s spine but he pushed it aside.

_Not here. Not today._

Teddy glanced at him, like he had some way of knowing that the current of unease flowing between them was ebbing towards something dangerous. He offered a smile, less guarded than earlier, but there was still a hint of not-Teddy about it. Billy forced himself to smile back, knowing it probably wasn’t fooling anyone but he didn’t have to worry about it for long.

They arrived at the looming front doors, which opened easily before any of them reached for the handle. Cassie smiled and waved towards a pinpoint in the arching frame surrounding the door. “Thanks Jarvis!”

“You are most welcome, Miss Lang.”

“Oh my god, Cassie,” Billy hissed, abandoning Teddy’s arm and latching onto Cassie. “Are you BFFs with Jarvis or something?”

“No, I just like to talk to him,” she replied with a shrug, patting his hand in an almost-simpering way prior to leading him into the vestibule. Billy was so enthralled with the enormity of standing in the middle of Avengers HQ that he didn’t even notice the flash of hurt crossing Teddy’s features.

~~~~~~

Only moments after Billy pulled away from him, Kate was at his side, her manicured nails squeezing at his bicep before she gave him a knowing look.

“Sorry,” he whispered, once the students had moved a few steps away and were out of direct earshot. “I just…”

“I know,” Kate said without waiting for him to finish. “I know this hits a little too close to home for you. It’s hard, but Cassie really does appreciate it. And hey, you get to totally dork out with your boyfriend. It’s win-win.”

“Yeah,” he mumbled, staring at the back of Billy’s head and trying to force his expression back to something neutral, something friendly, something that didn’t reflect the rolling swell of worry in his gut.

Kate followed his gaze and gave his arm another squeeze. “You’re still worried about it.”

“I can’t help it. What if something happens? It would be my fault and I…” He broke off with a hiss as she twisted her nails in his skin.

“Nothing is going to happen,” she said, her voice low and hard. “And if it does, we will face it head-on when it comes to that. Making yourself sick with worry over what may or may not happen isn’t going to help. It will kill whatever you two just got back. And he’s already picking up on it, drifting away in an attempt to protect himself.”

“I know but--”

“No buts.” Kate emphasized her point with another jab of her nails, motioning towards Billy and Cassie who were having what looked like an impromptu meet-and-greet with Captain America. “Now are you going to go save your boyfriend from making a complete ass of himself or are we going to have to pick him up from the curb later?”

He chuckled, pressing a quick peck to her cheek and detangling himself from the tight grasp she had on his arm. “Thanks,” he managed, the hint of a smile coming back to his face.

Even before he approached the pair, he could see that Captain America--though he should probably refer to him as Steve or Captain Rogers, seeing as he was dressed casually in a plaid button-up and a pair of faded jeans--was politely holding a conversation with them, though Billy was tripping over his own tongue and fighting a flush that was creeping up the back of his neck.

Guess he’d better go save Billy before he hyperventilated with unbridled joy.

~~~~~~

_Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod._

Billy felt like his brain was stuck on an infinite loop of stupid. At least he managed to put a halt on anything coming out of his mouth that he hadn’t analyzed ten thousand times prior to saying it, but he had a feeling that just left him starting at Cap like a creeper. Thankfully, he didn’t seem to notice, drawing Cassie into a gentle hug the second he saw her.

“Cassandra, how are you?” his tone was soft, not at all the ‘Captain voice’ that Billy always associated with him. He was vaguely cognizant that he was focusing his attention on the floor, near their feet.

_Oh, would you look at that. Cap doesn’t wear socks indoors._

He was so zoned in on simultaneously trying to get his brain to form words while keeping the blush off his cheeks that he barely noticed Teddy slip up behind him until a gentle palm was against his shoulder. Billy’s eyes shot up to meet the other’s soft gaze and he was immediately grateful for the reprieve. At least, until Cap finally seemed to become aware of them standing there.

“And who are your friends?” He was smiling, broad and welcoming as he extended a hand to Teddy--Teddy who had already offered up his hand and was returning the smile with a beam of his own.

“Teddy Altman. It’s an honor to meet you, sir.”

_Damn you and your professional etiquette._

Billy simmered over his internal jealousy for a beat too long, wondering how it was fair that Teddy was able to speak so eloquently without bumbling the words, and Cassie chimed in for him.

“This is Billy. He goes to school with me, and I promise he’s really never this quiet. I think he’s in shock,” she teased, jabbing him between the ribs and bringing his attention around to the present.

“Billy Kaplan,” he said, taking the Captain’s hand in turn and trying (failing) to keep the flush from rising across his cheekbones. “Nice to meet you, Captain.”

“Just Steve is fine, son.”

Okay, if he wasn’t going to internally combust before, he was definitely going to now.

“And you remember Kate?” Cassie interrupted his mind’s downward spiral as she tugged her friend forward. Kate offered a polite nod and a smile to Cap-- _Steve, Billy, he wants to be called Steve_ \--prior to grinning in her general direction.

“Of course. It’s good to see you again, Miss Bishop. I think Clint was looking forward to meeting you, he caught some of your last archery match and couldn’t stop talking about it,” Steve chuckled, a sound soft and low in the back of his throat.

“I only said she shoots decent for a _girl_ ,” Hawkeye hollered from somewhere above them, Billy craning his neck to get an idea of _where_. He noted that Teddy mimicked the movement beside him.

Steve glared at the second-floor bannister, a large statue obscuring the view. “Don’t be rude, Clint. Come say hello.”

“Or give me a bow so I can show you how well I shoot, _for a girl_ ,” Kate replied calmly, her eyes trained on the same spot as Steve’s.

Billy didn’t see what they were looking at until a lean figure slipped from the shadows at the base of the statue, grinning down at them from his perch. “Nah, I think I’m good up here, thanks Cap.”

There was a disgruntled huff beside them--Billy glanced to Teddy for confirmation that Captain America _did_ just **_huff_** \--and Steve folded his arms across his chest, giving them an apologetic smile. “Sorry about Clint, he’s not usually such a lout. Anyway, I think Tony was working on your dad’s helmet, if you’re looking for it. He wanted to get it all ‘spruced up’ for you, since you expressed some interest in taking a few of his things to your new place?”

“Yeah.” There was a hitch in Cassie’s breath, Kate’s hand finding hers and giving a tender squeeze before Billy could even approach them. “Yeah. That would be great. Maybe you can show these two around while Kate and I go talk to Uncle Tony?”

“Sure thing,” he answered, settling a hand on her shoulder as a momentary comfort before turning to Billy and Teddy expectantly. “So, where to first?”

_Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod._

~~~~~~

Over the years, the halls of the mansion hadn’t changed a whole lot; they were still the same well-varnished wood with elegant trim along the ceilings, the same plush carpet with tendrils of gold and white flowing among dark red, the same rows of closed oak doors--but everything felt different. There were memories in every corridor, every nook and cranny, thoughts that pulled at her heart and made her limbs feel weary and leaden. She was glad that Kate was here, holding her hand, or she might not be able to make it through the day.

 

The lab was situated in a basement along the back of the mansion, tucked away from all the commotion of the common areas. It was Tony Stark’s way of having some semblance of privacy in a house that was constantly whirring with activity; though to Cassie’s knowledge, most of the Avengers had access codes to the lab at all times except during a black-out period, so it sort of defeated the whole ‘privacy’ thing. As they approached the end of the hall, Led Zeppelin blared up the staircase to greet them, Jarvis’s familiar voice almost drowned out from the volume.

“Ah, Miss Lang. I’m afraid Sir is quite busy at the moment with a rather delicate project.”

“We’ll be just a minute, Jarvis. I just wanna get my dad’s helmet. Does he still have it in there?”

“Yes, but may I recommend you come back in approximately forty-five minutes?”

“You may, but I’m still going in now. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to come back later.” Something in her voice cracked and Kate’s hand tightened in a reassuring squeeze.

Jarvis must have picked up on it as well, since he responded with a quiet, “As you wish.”

“Did Tony let his AI watch _The Princess Bride_?” Kate asked with a snort, trying to lighten the mood a notch and Cassie loved her all the more for it.

Shrugging her way through the lab door, helpfully unlocked and opened with a whoosh by Jarvis, she smiled over her shoulder. “I think it was part of movie night a few weeks ago,” she shouted above the onslaught of _Black Dog_ pouring out from the speakers.

“They have a _movie night_?” Kate shouted back, though it was getting harder to hear the further into the lab they went, winding among workbenches and half-finished projects.

Cassie gave her answer with another lift of her shoulders, mouthing ‘why not’ as she stepped through the open door at the back of the workshop. She only had a few seconds to react to the fact that there were _two_ voices inside before she saw them.

Hunched over some sort of miniscule device on the tabletop, Tony Stark was thrumming out a rhythm with his free hand while the other soldered something into place. He hadn’t heard them come in, or at least Cassie assumed he hadn’t, because he was still quietly belting out “ah, ah, ah” along with the music. Any amusement quickly left her features when she turned to the other man in the room, seated on the edge of one of the workshop benches with his head turned towards them. His bright eyes were attentive, though there was a furrow on his crimson brow, concern wrought across inhuman features. Cassie felt Kate’s surprise through the twitch of her fingers, but her face remained impassive like she wasn’t just seeing an Avenger back from the dead.

“Vision,” Cassie whispered, her voice holding a tremor of doubt along with the shudder of fear that spiked across her chest.

“Alright buddy, I think I’ve got this all sorted out.” Tony pushed away from the workbench, his stool rolling across the floor until he was situated near the Vision. The small device he was fiddling with looked like a wristwatch, and he snapped it onto a yellow wrist with a flourish. “Ta da! And like that, you’re back to your boring persona. Seriously, you could have been something cool like a NASA employee. Oh, hi ladies.” He finally seemed to notice their presence, lowering the volume on Zeppelin with a wave of his arms.

Cassie was vaguely aware of Kate trying to say something near her ear, but the words were jumbled and muted like she was underwater. Sitting in front of her, dark slacks providing a harsh contrast against the steel of the workbench, was her professor for ‘The History of Ancient Civilizations and Religions.’

“Miss Lang, let me explain.”

His words were also drowned out among the rushing sound in her ears, her pulse thundering wildly in her chest. Emotions surged through her too quickly too name, fear and anger making constant appearances in the rotation. She was able to feel someone’s hand on her arm, but it felt so small, so indistinct. She wasn’t even aware she was shouting until she felt her head brush the ceiling, Jarvis’s voice echoing close to her ear.

“...approximately seventy seconds from the workshop. I believe William and Theodore are accompanying him.”

She glanced down at them, actually glanced down at them before her mind caught up with her body. “Oh. I, uh…” Cassie looked for Kate, trying to quell the panic rising faster than the tide. She _couldn’t_ let Billy see her like this, he’d flip out, and that was really the last thing she needed when her mind was already reeling.

“Easy there, Giant Girl,” Kate’s voice lilted from her left side, a hand squeezing the tip of an enormous finger. “Just take some deep breaths and come back down here with us.”

Cassie did as instructed, following through with the breathing exercises that they sometimes did at Sunday morning yoga. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Hold it, repeat. Eventually she was back down to her normal size, letting a breath she had been holding hiss through her nose. Kate gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

“Holy shit.” Tony was staring at them from across the room, leaning against the far workbench (where he had presumably retreated when she decided to take up the majority of space between the four walls). His brows were halfway up his forehead, but there was a huge grin on his lips. “I see why you wanted the helmet.”

“That’s not--”

“But I also know that Steve would have my ass three ways to Sunday if I go around encouraging vigilante justice so I’m just gonna pretend I didn’t see that,” he answered, grin never faltering as he strode across the room, snatching the helmet from a nearby display case and tossing it to Cassie with ease.

She caught it, barely, her hands still shaking from the entire episode. Her mouth opened, fully intent to offer more of an explanation--which was precisely the moment when Captain Rogers barrelled into the room, followed in short order by Teddy and then Billy, who was wheezing and clutching at his knees.

“Tony, what’s going on? Jarvis gave a warning call about something down here.”

“He did? Jarvis, are you on the fritz again?”

“Sir, I appear to be functioning at normal capacity with no discernable errors at present.”

“Well that can’t be right, I’ll take a look,” Tony answered, giving Cap two pats in the center of his chest, right where the star on his uniform would lay were he wearing it.

“Stark,” Steve snapped, glowering down at the other man, who easily side-stepped his narrowed gaze to fiddle with an work-in-progress on the far side of the room.

Cassie felt her body alight with energy and decided it was probably best to get out of there before she either did something stupid, or Jarvis spilled the beans on what really happened. “Come on. Drinks. Now.” She grabbed Kate’s hand as she went by, motioning for the boys to follow. They did, though Billy spared a double-take over his shoulder.

“Wait, was that Professor Richards?”

“Drinks. **NOW**.” Cassie growled, hauling them out of the mansion and into the streets.

~~~~~~

Drinks turned out to be at an extremely small venue where actors got trashed and performed (or attempted to perform) Shakespearean plays.

Billy thought it was fucking brilliant.

Though Billy was also into his fourth drink in an hour, so just about anything would seem fucking brilliant right about then. They had all been dragged out of the mansion so quickly he hadn’t had time to process what might have made Cassie so upset, only that she _was_ upset and demanding alcohol (the moment they dropped off her dad’s helmet, that is). He didn’t blame her, today was hard for a plethora of reasons, but something seemed to have set her off.

“What, a play toward! I'll be an au-au-auditor; An actor too, perhaps, if I see cause.” Someone was stumbling over their lines in a booming voice, one of the actors probably, waving some kind of glitzy wand.

_Right, fairies. Midsummer Night’s Dream and all that._

The wand thing suddenly made a whole lot more sense.

Billy leaned against Teddy's side, pleased that the other seemed to have opened up considerably since they met outside the mansion. He was pretty sure that the guided tour from _the_ Captain America probably had at least a little to do with it.

Though the booze couldn't hurt either.

Teddy was laughing at something one of the actors said, a line that had them rolling across the edge of the bar and disappearing from sight. This only made the blond laugh harder, leaning against the table and wheezing as Kate rolled her eyes at him.

"Didn't know Shakespeare was your thing," Billy whispered when there was a lull in between acts, rolling the last of his drink around the bottom of his glass.

He saw the faint edge of a blush grace the tips of Teddy's ears--it made his heart race wildly and he tamped the feeling down in a hurry. "Mom and I would read it when I was a kid."

"Your mom read you _Shakespeare_ as a kid? Man, I thought I had it rough," he teased, pressing closer until their bodies were nearly connected from shoulder to knee.

"It wasn't so bad," Teddy answered, his cheeks reddening further. "I kind of liked it."

"Nerd," Billy said, knowing full well he easily fell under that category as well. "Cassie, can I grab you another drink?"

Cassie and Kate had been hunched together for most of the night, having hushed conversations punctuated with large hand motions or the pitch of Cassie's tone when she started getting upset all over again. She broke away when Billy spoke to her, offering a weary smile. "Yeah, that would be great. Thanks." And just like that, she was right back to her whispered explanations and flailing hands.

Nudging reluctantly at the warm body beside him, encouraging Teddy to sidle out of the booth so he could head to the bar, Billy stumbled over his own feet in a way that was only characterizable as a flawless lack of grace. Thankfully, he found himself landing in warm arms rather than face-first onto the floor and he smiled upwards to thank Teddy--

Only to see that it wasn’t Teddy at all.

“Professor.”

Billy scrambled to his feet, seeing his boyfriend standing off to the side of their booth, his shoulders lifting in a gentle shrug. He glanced back to Cassie, whose attention had been drawn toward them by his acrobatic defeat. She was glowering across the table, arms folded across her chest while Kate appeared to be rubbing small circles on her back to maintain some level of calm.

It didn’t seem to be working. “What do you want,” she snapped, eyes about ready to burn a hole straight through the man’s head.

“Cassandra, please let me explain.”

“I don’t recall giving you permission to call me that.”

“Alright, Miss Lang then.”

“I’m going to… go get those drinks,” Billy mumbled, though no one seemed to notice his departure but Teddy, who trailed along at his heels.

“What’s that all about?” the blond asked once they were out of discernable hearing range.

Shrugging, he ordered a set of drinks from the bartender before glancing over his shoulder at the girls, making sure they didn’t need an escape route or something. “Not sure. Cassie seemed really upset to see him. I mean, I don’t know why the hell a University Professor would be in Tony Stark’s lab but…” Again, he shrugged, handing two of the drinks to Teddy and meandered back to the table. The conversation, as tense as it may have been, appeared to be winding to a close. Cassie was standing next to the booth with her jacket.

“What’s going on?” he asked, setting down the glasses and frowning at his friend. She wasn’t meeting his gaze and that was never a good sign.

“Professor Richards is going to walk me home.”

Billy was momentarily stunned into thinking maybe he really _should_ call it a night with the drinking, but Teddy looked just as confused as he felt. “The guy you ran out of the Avengers mansion to get away from?” He glanced to Kate for backup, but she just shook her head. No help there, then.

“Billy, it’s fine. I’ll explain later, okay?” she offered, moving to drag him into a hug. He allowed it, tugging her close enough so he could whisper into her ear.

“Are you really ok?”

“Yeah. Don’t worry.” Cassie pulled away, a sincere smile on her lips. “Sorry for… yeah. Freaking out and making you ditch your tour with Cap.”

“Oh my goooood. I didn’t even think of it like that,” he whined, over-exaggerating. “You definitely owe me one.”

She laughed, rapping her knuckles on the side of his head. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll make it up to you later. Maybe I’ll let you get an autograph or something.”

Leaning across the table, Cassie gave Kate a quick hug prior to waving at Teddy. “Okay, see you guys later.”

There was a quiet chorus of goodbyes before they all re-settled at the table, Billy immediately downing the drink intended for Cassie. He opened his mouth to speak, to try and understand the whole situation, but he was interrupted by an extravagant (and very loud): “ **Come, sit thee down upon this flowery bed!** ”

“While I thy amiable cheeks do coy, and stick musk-roses in thy sleek smooth head, and kiss thy fair large ears, my gentle joy,” Teddy finished quietly, eliciting a snort from Billy that nearly sent him into a coughing fit.

“Are you saying my ears are big?” he hissed, sending the blond into a treble of laughter. Across the table, Kate made a rather pointed attempt at narrowing her eyes, but there was the hint of mirth lurking behind them.

~~~~~~

_The application of the request was simple, as Mister Stark assured me, but she still appears to be upset. Her demeanor is closed off, arms crossed over her chest and she has not spoken since we left the establishment. Perhaps she is still unhappy with our obtuse introduction earlier._

“What do you want, Vision?”

_Yes, I believe she is still upset._

“Please allow me to explain. I know it may not make sense, though I do promise, it was not done with malintent towards anyone.”

_Her brow is twisting downward, this is not helping._

“It was simply brought to my attention that I may find it helpful to adapt more quickly to a modern society should I have more direct contact with those whom I may interact with on a daily basis.”

“So what, we were like your trial run? Your guinea pigs?”

“Oh, certainly not. You were not my first class.”

_This was not the correct thing to say either. She is exceedingly more cross than she was a moment ago._

“Again, what do you want.”

_Not a question, a statement, then. Does it require an answer? She appears to be awaiting one._

“I would like to make amends. I did not mean for you to discover this.”

“Yeah, no one means for their _lies_ to be pulled out of the shadows but it just kind of _happens_ sometimes.”

_Oh. Is this sarcasm? It is similar to sarcasm, but I do not believe it is the same. Perhaps in the same familial group?_

“I did not lie, Miss Lang. An omission of facts is not a lie.”

“Sure, but if I had asked you out or something, would you have bothered to fill me in? Or just waited it out until I discovered it on my own?”

_This is an illogical presumption. To my knowledge, there has never been the intent to ‘ask me out’ by anyone in recent years. My data on the subject is insufficient, at best._

“Were you going to ask me out, Miss Lang?”

“No!”

_Ah, her capillaries are flushing in her cheeks. This would indicate she is either lying or embarrassed. Perhaps it is both in this case._

“Hypothetically, if you were to ask me out, would you not also be omitting certain facts about yourself? Is this not how humans function?”

_There is no response but a sound that may be… irate? Have I upset her again?_

“For instance, were we to have an argument that caused you particular distress, would you not react much like you did in Mister Stark’s workshop? Would I not then find out about your ‘lies,’ as you put it?”

_Silence, but I do not believe that she is angry anymore._

“How are you alive?”

_This is an unexpected tangent._

“I assume you mean how I have regained a working consciousness? I was never quite ‘dead,’ not in your terms. My mind was constantly functioning, simply without a proper means of expanding said information outward. From my understanding, Mister Stark and the other Avengers retrieved a suit from Kang, a suit that was far beyond anything science had discovered in our timeline. Mister Stark brought the suit to his lab, where I was maintained as best they could, and we were connected through the servers, through his AI. That suit became my outlet, my new form so to speak.”

_She looks unhappy again, but not anger, that is fear. I have frightened her?_

“So you’re… Kang?”

_Still backing away, I do not want this to end in another misunderstanding. It makes me feel… displeased when she is upset. Why?_

“No. I am not Kang, nor am I the same as the ‘Vision’ you may have known. I am both and neither. I know this does not make sense, though I assure you, I would never do anything to hurt someone. I would especially not hurt you, Cassandra.”

“Why do you call me that?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Cassandra. Why do you call me Cassandra?”

_No longer afraid, or angry. This is good, this is the correct kind of progress._

“I’m… not sure? I do not know what to offer you, though if you had met the Vision in the past, even in an indirect way, that may be why I am drawn to that particular rendition of your name.”

“Okay.”

_Not a particularly positive response, though given the circumstances, I suppose it is to be expected._

“Okay.”

_We appear to be at a stand-still, she is no longer speaking. However, she is… smiling?_

“So what should I call you?”

“Pardon me?”

“I can’t exactly go around calling you Vision. And now that I know your big dark secret calling you Professor Richards seems way too stuffy.”

_She appears playful? Perhaps I have said something correctly after all._

“You may call me Jonas, if you wish.”

“Jonas.”

_My name, the name I have chosen, it sounds different on her lips._

“Okay, Jonas. Walk me home.”

_She is taking my arm and we are proceeding, should I call this a success? I shall consult with Mister Stark upon my return to the mansion. Thank you, Jarvis, for your insight._

**_You are most welcome, Sir._ **

~~~~~~

“It is the wittiest partition that ever I heard discourse, my lord.” The actor gave a particularly low bow, apparently forgetting that he was holding a nearly-full pint. He also apparently forgot there were patrons only two steps in front of him, sloshing the amber liquid all over the table and three-quarters of Billy. There were apologies and the frantic gathering of paper towels (and definitely **not** an indignant shriek on Billy’s part) before the trio settled in to witness the remainder of the evening.

Billy sat through it with barely contained agitation, arms crossed over the front of his hoodie as he leaned back into the far corner of the booth, leaving Teddy in the ‘splash zone.’ Granted, the blond volunteered to switch places with him, but that didn’t make his mood any less sour. Thankfully, Kate was looking just as miserable as he felt, glaring at her phone in regular intervals. He didn’t ask, and neither did Teddy, so she didn’t offer any information on the subject. However, her dour mood led to a quick exit once the play was completed, dragging the two men with her.

“Well, I’m calling a cab and going home,” she announced, hands on her hips and her stance aggressive. “Boys?”

“I’m taking the subway.” Billy jammed his hands in his pockets, rooting around for his bus pass. He felt someone else slip his wallet out of his back pocket, glaring weakly at Teddy while he snatched it. “I would have found it!” The hitch in his voice wasn’t convincing even himself of astounding sobriety, he doubted it was working on Teddy.

“I’m taking him home,” the blond said, a nod to Billy’s general direction.

“Make sure he doesn’t fall flat on his face.”

“I’m right heeeere,” he whined, finding his bus pass and proceeding to fling it across the parking lot in his attempt to free it from his wallet.

Teddy helpfully went to retrieve it (that jerk) and put Billy’s wallet back in his pocket before winding an arm around him. “You going to be okay to get home on your own?”

“YES.”

_Oh. Kate. He was talking to Kate._

Billy felt his cheeks heat up and he chose to examine his shoes while the pair had a conversation that he failed to grasp the words of. Every time he attempted to listen in, his brain decided to detour elsewhere halfway through a sentence, so it really wasn’t worth it. Instead he stared at the cracks in the pavement, knocking miniscule pebbles into the crevasses until he felt a pair of strong hands on his shoulders. He glanced up to meet bright blue eyes.

“You ready to go?”

There was a warm concern there, a softness in the look that made Billy bite back any snarky retort he’d been building on his tongue. He nodded. “Yeah, let’s go.”

They walked quietly through the bustling subway station, clamoring around groups of noisy teenagers and inebriated bar patrons trying to make their way home. Billy was definitely not grateful for the arm around his waist that totally did _not_ help him from falling up the stairs. Twice.

When they finally arrived back at his dorms (which felt like forever, but that could have been due to the fact that Billy insisted on counting the number of steps from the subway back to the front doors) Teddy lingered in the hallway as Billy fumbled with his keys.

“Sorry, I swear it’s just super tricky…” He knew that his excuse probably wasn’t going to get him very far, but just as he finished the sentence he heard the click of the lock. “Ah hah!”

Billy stumbled into his room, pulling off his beer-soaked hoodie and hiking up his tee shirt with it. He glanced over his shoulder, spotting the blond still hovering in the hallway, just outside of the door. “You gonna come in?”

“Actually, I think I should be heading home.”

Okay, so he probably stank like stale beer and was more than a little drunk, but that still kind of stung.

“Oh.”

“I have to head into the office again in the morning,” Teddy replied, looking apologetic, but there was a flash of something else lancing behind his eyes before he had the chance to stifle it under a hazy blue wall.

“Oh.”

_He’s lying to me._

“I’m really sorry, can we take a raincheck?” The concerned look on his face was growing larger with each passing second; Billy belatedly realized it was because he was standing in the middle of his bedroom, half-stripped, and not saying a damn word.

His heartbeat ratcheted up a notch while he cleared his throat, trying his best to sound calm while fighting through an inebriated fog. “Yeah, sure. Um, maybe after the holidays?” he offered, feeling the ache in his chest twist as he forced a smile to his face.

Teddy smiled, and he couldn’t help but see the outpouring of relief in the expression. “Yeah. That would be great. It’s just with the audit results coming up and all the extra work Rick is piling on…”

“Yeah, yeah. I understand, you gotta save the world one case at a time and stuff,” he teased, hoping his voice sounded playful and not like it was breaking him from the inside out. Billy wandered over and made an elaborate shooing motion, one hand on the door, prepared to close it the second Teddy left.

Something in his voice must have been off, because that little furrow was back between his boyfriend’s brows. Billy surged forward to peck a quick kiss to the spot and another to his lips. It was sloppy, rushed, and full of what he hoped didn’t come across as vague panic. “Go. Really, it’s fine.” He offered up another smile, hoping this one was more sincere, and it seemed to do the trick. Teddy was smiling back and leaning in for another brief kiss. It lingered, as did the blond’s hand on his shoulder, while an internal debate seemed to wage war behind Teddy’s eyes. After a few moments, he broke contact with Billy and another almost-but-not-quite-there smile worked its way onto his lips.

“Okay. I’ll talk to you soon, text you when this is all settled a bit more.”

“You bet. G’night, Teddy.”

“Night, Billy.”

Teddy edged away from the door with a reluctance Billy hadn’t expected, though he _did_ leave, closing the door at the end of the hallway without so much as a glance back in his direction.

_Shit._

Wheezing a breath through his teeth, he closed and locked his dorm room door, leaning against the smooth surface and letting the next shuddering breath slide him to the floor.

_What did I do wrong?_

_What did I say wrong?_

_Where did I fuck up?_

He was pretty sure it must have been something he did with the speed and erratic way that the detective pulled away from him, from _them_. Billy’s mind reeled around the term of ‘us’ and wondered if it ever existed or if it was a concept his brain concocted as a fantasty, a non-reality. They hadn’t even said the big ‘L’ word yet, so he couldn’t be sure that this whole thing wasn’t just heavily one-sided.

Billy let his body shake out another sigh, pressing his palm against his eyes and was surprised when he pulled it away wet. He could have said something, could have confronted it, but if it really was nothing Teddy would just see him as a complete loony and then he might lose him altogether. It wasn’t worth the risk, not if he wasn’t sure this anxiety, this fear wasn’t a fire he sparked and stoked all on his own.

But there _was_ a distance now, that much he noticed and knew as truth. Some sort of gap had formed when he hadn’t been paying attention, when he had been too wrapped up in being happy to even give it a second thought. Had something happened between them he didn’t know about, something he wasn’t aware of, building and festering until it started to destroy them? No, there was nothing he was able to place a name, a time, a place to. So what was it? What was causing this uneasy roil of emotion through his gut? And how was he even supposed to bring it up?

After Thanksgiving. He could talk to Teddy after Thanksgiving. It would give them both some time away to contemplate, maybe re-assess where they stood. Then Billy might be able to try and figure out exactly what had gone wrong, or how to go about fixing it. Tonight, though, he’d let himself to wallow. Just a little.

 

 


	8. Like Sunshine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So… who’s the lucky boy?”
> 
> “Mom!” he wailed, feeling his cheeks start to heat and forcing it back just as quick.
> 
> “Oh, sorry. I mean man. Who’s the lucky man?”
> 
> “It’s not that kind of…”
> 
> She gave him a flat look, the same one she used to give him when he tried to get away with a lie even though she always saw right through him.
> 
> “Theodore, please. I’ve seen what that look means. Heck, I’ve been there myself a long time ago.”
> 
> “...in a galaxy far, far away,” he mumbled under his breath, trying not to smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guyyyys~! You all leave me such lovely comments (both here and on tumblr) that I just have to stop and say a great big THANK YOU. I know that I put you all through quite the emotional roller coaster, though you’ve all stuck around and I appreciate it so much. We are only a few chapters from the end, and I want you to know that things will definitely end on a happy note, no matter how grim I may make it seem. On that note, have a very happy chapter! Also, if you would like to skip the explicit scenes, stop at “When he managed to open his eyes and tear his gaze away from the ceiling” and start again at “Billy, you have to get up.”
> 
> As always, a HUGE thank you to my beta-readers Kuchen and Melerune, helping to keep me on track and out of grammar hell even though they are both so busy with real-life. I can’t tell you two enough how much I appreciate it. Also, can we please all go back to Florida where it was warm and every day was filled with magic and screeches of “DROP RIDE?!”
> 
> [Please come visit me on tumblr! :)](http://amonaewrites.tumblr.com/) You can prompt me to write things, send me any questions you may have, or just share silly things with me (I love seeing you guys over there, I feel like I can interact on a more casual level).
> 
> Chapters will update on a regular basis, always the first weekend of every month. I have myself on a pretty strict writing schedule as part of my day-to-day, so the only time chapters will be late is if I’m ill or have other serious obligations. **This one is a little later than normal, and slightly less edited due to my vacation this month. Any errors are my own, as some portions of this chapter did not have time to go through beta-reading. Sorry guys!**

**_ “Ooh I got this feeling _ **

**_I'm barely breathing_ **

**_You get to me the good way_ **

**_A feeling that I can't explain.”_ **

_Gold Rays by Vinyl Pinups_

“Thanksgiving sucks.”

“Come on, you don’t mean that. Everybody likes turkey.”

Billy rolled his head on the desk to glare at his so-called friend. Cassie was making attempts at a turkey call while she waggled her hands in a shape vaguely resembling a Thanksgiving bird, directly in front of his face.

They were loitering in their history classroom after yet another cancellation by the legendary Robo-Prof. Well, Cassie and Billy were loitering. Eli had gone off to study for his last few rounds of midterms, failing in his attempts to convince them that being a responsible student included studying when you didn’t have an exam within the next twenty-four hours.

“Do you think he got a cold? Didn’t think robots got sick,” he grumbled, motioning to the scribbled note on the whiteboard (done by a TA, probably, since the writing was completely different from the staccato lines of Professor Richards).

“I don’t think he’s sick,” Cassie replied, averting her gaze to her phone for a few moments, letting the silence drag on.

Billy furrowed his brows and tried to get a better look at her face. “What? No theories? No exhaustive list of reasons why he’s not a robot? No comments on missing his charming as-”

“Billy!” she shrieked, cheeks flaring up as she rounded on him with narrowed eyes.

“What? I was going to say ascot,” he replied with a leer.

“Bullshit.”

“Seriously though, what’s up? You two went off together after that whole Shakespearean debacle and then he hasn’t shown for class since?” He sat up properly, stretching his arms above his head until there was the distinct pop of his spine.

“Ew. Don’t do that. It gives me the creeps.” She was avoiding the question, re-arranging her notes and starting to re-write them into a new notebook.

“Did you murder him and have to hide the body? Is that why he hasn’t been around?” Billy teased, nudging the end of her pen with his own. “C’mon Cassie, what’s going on? I know something’s up!”

She stood from the desk with a huff, looking around the empty classroom before heading to the two doors and closing them. It was only after the room was secure that Cassie turned back to him, a frown still marring her usually-cheerful features.

Billy swallowed around the lump in his throat. “Okay, now you’re freaking me out. You’re totally gonna murder me too, huh?” He was trying to keep things light, despite the look on her face.

“Billy, you can’t tell anyone what I’m about to tell you. I mean it. Not even Teddy.”

_Won’t be a problem since we haven’t really been seeing all that much of each other…_

“Yeah, of course,” he answered, lips pulling down into a displeased frown of his own as she stood at the front of the room, fingers drifting over the lectern.

He watched her turn away, the rise and fall of her shoulders as she took a deep, steadying breath. Whatever she was about to say, whatever she was about to reveal, was taking a lot of mental effort on her part. Billy felt the knot of worry tighten in his chest.

“Cassie?”

“You weren’t super far off with your Robo-Prof theory,” she said suddenly, turning to face him while clutching the wooden angles of the podium. “Jonas is the Vision.”

“ **WHAT**?!”

“Billy, shhhh!” she hissed, glancing towards the door warily. That was when he noticed the clamor in the hallways had quieted to a din.

“Whaaat?” he adjusted his volume to a reasonable hush before approaching her at the front of the room. “How? I mean, why the hell is the Vision teaching a course at NYU?”

Cassie rubbed at her temples and he realized that he may be asking a lot of questions she didn’t even have answers to. “He’s not _the_ Vision. I mean, not the same one that got ripped apart by She-Hulk all those years ago but… He sort of is? I don’t know, it’s super confusing.” She pressed her palms into her eyes and heaved a shuddering breath. “I think I might have upset him, and maybe that’s why he’s not coming to class.”

It was becoming harder and harder for him to stop the flow of words spilling from his lips, everything Cassie was saying both made absolute and zero sense at the same time. It explained her freak-out and then subsequent bolting from the mansion, it explained her somewhat reluctant departure with their Professor during the Shakespeare mess, and it explained the sudden lack of that same Professor from class. What it didn’t explain was the concern wracking her features, the lack of the Vision in any of the Avengers’ recent discussions or battles, or the reason why an Avenger (previous or current) would be teaching a course undercover.

“I don’t think it’s your fault, Cassie. Maybe it’s Avenging-related?” Billy offered, when he finally regrouped his thoughts and found the ability to speak in a full sentence.

She shook her head slowly, scraping her nail along a fault in the wood grain. “No. He’s not even technically an active member right now, not since he got rebooted. I mean, he’s supposed to be using this teaching thing to help figure out how to relate to humans and stuff…”

“So how did you find all of this out, anyway?”

"He told me."

Billy stared at her incredulously. "No, seriously. How did you find out."

She huffed, folding her arms across her chest and obviously well on the way to being irritated. "No, _seriously_ he told me. Why is that so hard to believe?"

"Because the only people who get to figure out a superhero's secret identity are... Oh my god! You're the Mary Jane to his Spider Man!"

"What? Billy, you lost me."

"He has a thing for you!"

It was Cassie's turn to look completely baffled, brows knit together in a tight line on her forehead. "What? No. I just asked. Well, asked might be too nice of a way to put it..."

"How do you have a relationship with an android? I mean, I guess the Scarlet Witch did it..."

"Billy!" She shrieked, freckled cheeks dissipating into a ruddy hue. "I am **_not_ ** seeing him! Jeeze! I just happened to witness the whole "transformation" dealie and demanded to know what the _fuck_ was going on!"

_Yikes._

Holding his palms up in surrender, he glanced at his runners. Billy knew he was pushing it, but he really didn't expect to see the blonde get _this_ upset. Something about the whole Professor/Jonas/Vision situation must have really rattled her.

"Hey, I'm sorry. Tell you what, as an apology for being a royal dick, I'll take you out for froyo or something before the holidays." It was a paltry offer, but Billy knew the fastest way to an apology with Cassie was usually straight through her sweet tooth.

"Twice," she answered, harsh expression turning towards a pout as she leaned on the lectern.

"Right, twice. Silly me, once is certainly not enough to atone for my sins, mistress," he echoed his apology through the room, sweeping into a deep bow. That's when he heard the giggles coming from the doorway--the doorway he assumed was still blocked by, well, a door. Billy popped up in a hurry, cheeks flaring a brilliant shade of red as he watched the gaggle of girls snicker behind cupped hands.

"Well, I guess this is an okay start to your atonement," Cassie chuckled, grinning wide as she passed him en route to pick up her bag.

“I hate you…” Billy whispered softly, ducking his head in an attempt to avoid recognition as he swooped up his own supplies and darted from the room (using the door opposite the crowd of first-years who were _still_ sniggering at him).

“No you don’t,” she replied in a sing-song voice as she smacked him with her backpack on the way out.

He figured a few frozen treats and an entire semester of embarrassment was worth it--Cassie’s mood seemed to have perked up considerably. You know, despite the whole ‘our History Professor is a reincarnated, non-human Avenger’ thing.

~~~~~~

“Ted?”

_Maybe if I just transfer the Albert file to general and then…_

“Teeeeeed?”

_But then it would look like we were pawning off work, even though there isn’t enough hours in the day to possibly get through all of these before the holidays and…_

“ **TED**!”

Blinking up from the stack of papers in front of him and rubbing blearily at his eyes, he attempted to focus on Kate’s form leaning against the far end of the desk. “Huh? Oh, sorry… I was…”

“Thinking. Yeah, I got that,” she replied, heaving a sigh and jabbing her index finger towards the wall clock. “Do you even know what time it is right now?”

“Uh…” he tried to peer around her at the clock but she moved to resolutely block his view. Without a window in their dingy little office, he was out of luck for practical guesses. “Daytime…?”

“It’s one thirty.”

“Oh, see that’s not so bad--”

“In the morning.”

“Oh.” That would explain why his eyes refused to stay open, no matter how many cups of horrible vending machine coffee he choked down.

Kate rubbed at her temples with a disgruntled noise prior to perching on the edge of the desk. “You can’t do this, Ted. You’re going to run yourself ragged.”

“But all these files and then…” he stopped himself before he mentioned anything about the Shepherd case, the one they were working-not-working, but one look in his partner’s direction and he could see she understood.

“When did you have free time last? Get out, maybe hang with Billy or whatever you guys are up to these days?”

Feeling a flush rising to his cheeks, he fought it back. “A few days ago.”

“Right, and today is…?”

“...Wednesday?” he offered weakly, not entirely sure where this particular strain of conversation was going.

“Wednesday. The day before Thanksgiving, Wednesday. As in, if you don’t make a point of seeing him today, you’re probably not seeing each other until after the holidays, correct? Unless you’ve invited him over for the Altman holiday special.”

Teddy groaned and buried his face in his hands, pressing palms tight against his eyes to try and regain some alertness. Instead, all he managed to do was force starbursts behind his vision. “I know, you’re right. I know…”

“So what you’re going to do about it is go home, get a few hours of sleep, _call him_ , and have a good day out before heading to Brooklyn,” she insisted, holding his coat at the ready for him, despite the fact that Teddy had not moved from his prone position, slumped in his chair.

He frowned at the coat. “But all the reports and…”

“I’ll handle it.”

“But…”

“I’ll **handle** it, Ted. Just go, get some sleep,” she all-but-growled, throwing his coat over his head and starting to re-shuffle all of his piles.

He was halfway to the door when the thought hit him, forcing a crease to wedge its way between his brows. “Wait, if it’s one in the morning what on earth are you doing at the office?”

Her fingers stilled partway through a stack of files that should have by all rights gone to legals. “I don’t want to talk about it, Ted. Not now.”

When her eyes met his there was something behind the silent plea not to ask any more of her, something hurt and broken and refusing to falter until he had left. “Kate…”

“Really, I’m fine. Can we talk about it later?” Her reply had a bite, a no-nonsense clause laced under the words that meant whatever it was, it really would have to wait--she wasn’t going to speak of it any time soon.

Though he knew she was upset, coming into the office dressed like she had been out on a date only moments prior, Teddy also knew when to drop it. “Okay. But later. We will do the thing. With the talking.”

“Go get some sleep, you big idiot,” she chided fondly, her features softening into a smile. “And give your mom a hug from me.”

“You’re always more than welcome to drop by,” he said as he fought his way into his jacket and out the door.

Kate waved a hand at him. “I know, I know. But I’ve got this big corporate thing that daddy is _insisting_ I’m required at.”

He paused for a moment in the doorway and flashed her another smile. “Well, the offer always stands. Have a good night, Kate and… thanks. Again.”

“Say hi to Billy for me,” she teased, turning away from him and back to the teetering stacks of work they had yet to catch up on.

As he hurried through the brisk walk home, Teddy couldn’t help but feel bad for leaving her with all the pre-holiday clean-up--but she was right, he had been working himself to the bone. Partially it was because they actually were getting swamped by everything that Rick was throwing their way, but partially it was avoidance; how was he supposed to face Billy when all he could think about is the ‘what if something happens’ scenarios that kept rolling through his head.

Those needed to stop, he knew that. All the thoughts were accomplishing was creating a dark swell of something twisted and hard at his core, something that came creeping up with the first inkling of fear. But even as he finally crashed into his bed, pulling the mound of blankets tight around his chest, he felt his mind skittering back to every horrible ‘what if.’

Repeat.

Repeat.

Repeat.

~~~~~~

Billy woke up with the distinct feeling that something had crawled into his skull and scraped around for a few hours before it gave up and died. Oh, no wait, that was just his hangover smashing through him with less tact than the Hulk in Times Square.

The whole ‘I-owe-you-not-one-but-two-froyos’ debacle had escalated into owing Cassie a night out, which had devolved into them and Eli staying out until fuck-only-knows o’clock and consuming probably more alcohol than was reasonable on a Tuesday night.

“I’m never drinking again,” he groaned into his pillow, knowing full-well this was his eighth-such declaration this year.

From somewhere on the floor, his phone let out a blaring cacophony of beats that he vaguely recognized as _Sexy Back_.

“God damn it, Cassie… Stop changing my ringtones,” Billy complained, floundering his way out of the bed and retrieving his phone from… where was it again? Oh, pants. Where did he throw his pants?

By the time he located said garment (somehow wedged between his computer desk and the wall, he didn’t even want to _know_ how that happened), the ringing had stopped as abruptly as it had started. Squinting at the call display (god the sun was bright, someone should really just dim that a little) he cursed and quickly re-dialed the number.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to miss your call, I couldn’t find my phone and for some reason Cassie changed your ringtone to the worst fucking song and my pants were wedged in the weirdest corner of the room and…”

He heard the soft chuff on the other end of the line--Teddy was definitely laughing at him. “Good morning to you too. What did Cassie change the ringer to this time?”

“Sexy Back…” Billy mumbled, hearing the barely restrained bark of laughter from the blond.

“Okay, so now that I’m questioning your taste in music…”

“Cassie did it!”

“Uh huh… What are you up to today?” There was something there, buried in Teddy’s tone that sounded oddly like… what? Concern? Hope?

Billy glanced around his whirlwind mess of a room, shrugging to himself prior to answering. “Probably packing, tidying up a bit. Gonna head up tonight I think, maybe tomorrow morning. Why?”

“I was wondering if you maybe wanted to grab brunch or something. I, uh, I’ve got the day off and you might be busy I didn’t even think about it…”

“Nope, not busy. Totally free. My room can stay a mess and I can pack in like three minutes, tops. So yeah, not busy at all.” He could feel himself blathering, a bundle of words that he meant to come off as casual but might have been leaning more towards _please I want to see you._

“So it’s okay if I swing by in half an hour? We can grab brunch somewhere, play it by ear?”

_Play it by ear sounds kind of ominous._

_Snap out of it, Billy. It’s just a choice of words._

_An ominous choice of words, but still…_

“Billy?”

“Huh?” He’d been too caught up in his thoughts that his brain was having a hard time re-routing and returning to the proper track. “Oh, yeah. Yeah, that sounds good. I’ll see you soon?”

“See you soon,” Teddy answered, and he could almost _hear_ the smile in his voice before he hung up.

Billy glanced down at himself, realized he was still wearing the t-shirt from last night and definitely hadn’t brushed his teeth when he came home, if the fuzzy rat feeling in his mouth was any indication. He snagged a change of clothes and his shower basket and hurried across the hall, some of the weight he’d been carrying lifting with each step.

_See you soon. Not nearly as ominous as play it by ear._

~~~~~~

It was completely absurd to be this nervous--they had been on plenty of dates in the past--but Teddy couldn’t stop himself from twisting the ends of his scarf between his fingers, tugging at it gently and taking a deep breath whenever he caught himself with digits immobilized in forest green tassels. He may be able to blame the hesitation in Billy’s voice during their phone call on the fact that the student was hungover (probably getting one last night of University life in prior to heading to his parents’). Logically, he really could blame it on that, but he couldn’t help the sinking feeling that Billy somehow _knew_ , knew that Teddy had been subconsciously avoiding him, the fears of seeing the other get hurt outweighing the desire to see him.

But today he wasn’t going to let his concerns overwhelm him--not when he saw the brunette barrelling towards him with a huge grin and waving what looked like… a DVD?

“So I had the best idea,” Billy insisted, spitting out the words before he’d managed to properly catch his breath. “After brunch, we totally have to watch this. You’re going to think it’s totally stupid, but I mean, it’s a groundbreaking piece of cinema for its time and--”

“Oh, I love Plan 9,” Teddy replied, finally managing to get a good look at the cover once the other had stopped flailing in favor of clutching his knees and wheezing in a few unsteady breaths.

“--it’s really good once you, wait, what? You’ve seen it?” Billy blinked at him and Teddy couldn’t help but notice the genuine surprise there.

“Well, I mean, it’s been a while, but who hasn’t seen it?” he asked, winding his fingers through Billy’s and tugging him along when the student seemed immobile by disbelief. “It’s a classic, right?” Teddy’s tone was light, teasing, trying to avoid all the things they really should be talking about by diverting his attention elsewhere.

All of the tension seemed to fizzle from between them the moment their hands were connected, linked by something other than the tentative drift of emotion. “I know! But I’m kind of disappointed you’ve seen it, I totally wanted to be the one to start your education of so-bad-it’s-good Science Fiction,” Billy said, grinning as he sidled up along the blond and pressed into his side.

Teddy could feel the strange flutter in his chest, recognized it, and made a definite attempt to clamp down on it before the date got out of hand more quickly than he had planned. Or at least before he said something he’d regret. “Well, mom and I used to watch whatever was on late-night TV when she got back from work. Most of the time it was movies like that,” he replied, chuckling at the memory. “Though we usually fell asleep somewhere in between pointing out all the inconsistencies and laughing at the ‘special effects.’”

“Hey, fishing wire is a totally legit film practice.” Billy jammed the movie into his bag, which Teddy just noticed he was carrying.

“You going to study later?” he asked, eyeing the satchel and wondering what else was in there.

He didn’t expect Billy’s cheeks to flare quite so quickly from the comment. “Uh, no. I packed and stuff before you got here so I thought we could maybe grab brunch and then hang out? If you’re not too busy? I brought snacks,” he offered, motioning to the shoulder bag.

Teddy felt the stranglehold of whatever horrible feeling was growing inside him, reaching up tendrils and clutching hard at the steady beat of his heart. He wanted this, wanted Billy, wanted things to be normal between them. But at the same time, he found the worry and fear over what might happen at the end of their path consuming him.

“Oh, uh… Yeah. That would be good. I don’t want to keep you, you said that you were heading home tonight, right?”

“I could go in the morning,” Billy replied, his face angled elsewhere, but Teddy spied the edge of that familiar blush creeping up the shell of pale ears.

_Oh. **OH**._

Feeling his own face heating up, he tried to think about it logically. Billy was asking to spend the night, or at least he thought Billy was asking to spend the night, but the last time that happened it ended with a not-so-pleasant visit from Thomas that had sent his mind spiraling into a panic attack. But it had also led to a declaration, one that rang through the back of Teddy’s thoughts even as he was working through every way he could let the other down easily.

_“I’ll protect him.”_

“Yeah, okay. That sounds like a plan,” he found himself saying it before the words were ever really processed, though the grin that burst across Billy’s face made any doubt fizzle from his mind.

“Cool. So where are we going for brunch?”

~~~~~~

Brunch ended up being at a cozy restaurant only a few blocks from Teddy’s apartment, one he frequented so often that they knew his order by rote memory (he was never going to live that one down, judging by the sniggers coming from the other side of the table the moment the waitress had vanished). He had long since finished his meal and was watching Billy shove the remains of what he was affectionately referring to as ‘the great pancake massacre of ‘15’ around his plate. After a heated conversation about the merits of new blood in the Avengers (Teddy had argued that the team was dwindling to frighteningly low numbers while Billy maintained that they had excellent interactions as a team and new blood would throw a monkey wrench into that mix) things had gotten quiet between them. He was beginning to wonder if the student was perhaps having second thoughts on their whole afternoon plan.

“You feeling okay?” Teddy offered, sipping slowly at his coffee and resisting the urge to reach across the table and brush his fingers along Billy’s free hand where it lay against the sugar dispenser.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I’m just still kind of out of it from last night. Cassie forgot that I was supposed to be buying _her_ drinks and kept supplying me shots from… god knows,” he replied with a laugh, though he winced as if the action caused him pain. “You have any advil?”

“At the house.” Teddy smiled, awash with relief at knowing it wasn’t him causing the change in the atmosphere between them. He tossed a few bills on the table and motioned to the door. “You wanna go? You can get that packed up if you want, eat it when your stomach has settled a little?”

Billy nodded slowly, eyeing the plate with a hint of green in his complexion. “Yeah, that might… might be a good idea.”

Teddy waved over the waitress to get a take-out box and abated the other’s apologies with stories of his last epic hangover. “...and then Kate decided that it was a really brilliant idea to get the entire group of recruits sloshed the day before preliminaries. Half of them could barely make it out of bed, I think a few threw up on the training grounds. It was all some evil plan to get us into the top positions, but I was definitely too hungover to make it much past a passing grade.”

“Oh my god, please tell me you were not one of the ones barfing. I don’t think I could handle that,” Billy managed through another bout of laughter.

“No, no. But I’m pretty sure I got close on lap four of the morning run,” he replied, chuckling as he unlocked the door to his building. “So yeah, I try not to drink quite that much anymore.”

“Lesson learned and all that, huh?”

“Something along those lines.”

Before he even realized it, they were holed up in a mountain of blankets on his ratty couch, a half-forgotten bowl of popcorn between them. Teddy had his arm slung along the back of the couch, letting his fingers trail idly through dark strands while they watched the ‘spaceship’ hover down on a rather obvious length of semi-transparent fishing line.

“Okay, maybe this movie is completely horrible,” Billy murmured, taking another sip of his ginger ale/vodka concoction that he swore helped with hangovers. “I may have mis-remembered it.”

Laughing, Teddy opted to glance away from the half-assed attempt at special effects in favor of giving his boyfriend a level look. “No, really?”

“Hey! It’s been like… three whole years since I watched it last,” he insisted with a pout and Teddy was making a determined effort not to think about how much he would like to kiss that frown away. He redirected his eyes back to the television in a valiant effort to keep his mind _off_ kissing Billy.

"It does have _some_ good qualities," he answered, feeling Billy adjust his position on the couch after shifting the bowl of popcorn out of the way. Teddy moved his arm to rest along the length of a trim side, palm settling over sharply angled hip bones. He knew his body was already jumping ahead of his brain with that simple touch, reminiscent of the last time they were at his apartment, but he didn't think Billy minded where his hands were settled, if the breathy huff of air against his chest was any indication.

“Vampira is like, spot on.”

“Yeah, ‘cause all she has to do is fold her arms like this and make an effort not to smile or break one of those ridiculously long nails,” Billy replied, laughing as he attempted to mimic her pose on the screen.

Teddy laughed along with him, and minus the occasional quip they had mostly settled in to watch the film. After a while he found his hands moving in languid patterns on the exposed strip of skin along Billy’s hip where his tee shirt had ridden up.

It got incredibly difficult to focus on the movie after that. Billy seemed to have grown bored with the cheesy special effects and "classic" one-liners--his attention diverted to mapping a path with his mouth along what he could see of Teddy's collarbone. Sloppy kisses and gentle nips and _oh god_ whatever he was doing with his tongue were causing the blond to tilt his head against the back of the couch and groan low in his throat.

When he managed to open his eyes and tear his gaze away from the ceiling, he felt an immediate tremor course through his body and go straight to his cock. Billy was watching him, eyes half-lidded and blown dark, his lips still hovering against the groove of Teddy's clavicle. “Billy,” he managed to hiss with the split second he had before the other was pressed up against him, lips clashing and their teeth bumping softly in his haste. Teddy moved his hands to trim hips, holding tight and encouraging him to slow down.

“Not a race,” he managed between the heavy sound of their breathing.

Billy’s cheeks flushed and he turned his eyes away prior to bringing them back, determined, to face his lover. “I don’t want to wait anymore. I… I want you, T.”

Teddy found himself fighting a cacophony of reactions, the husky hints to Billy’s tone sending a shudder along his spine to pool as heat low in his belly while his face turned several rosy shades. He took a moment to compose himself, swallowing around the pounding rhythm in his chest. “You’re always in such a rush. We have all night,” he teased, able to watch the flurry of hunger pass through Billy’s features before the lean man was moving again, hands sliding up Teddy’s sides, behind his shoulders, tangling in the hair at the nape of his neck and _pulling_ and _oh_ _god_.

He was pretty sure he groaned, though the strangled noise that escaped sounded more animal than a human. It was startling enough to make the other pause, perched in Teddy’s lap where he had stilled after all the frenzied action.

"Don't _stop_ ," Teddy rasped, knowing his cheeks were twelve shades of crimson but finding it very difficult to care.

Billy laughed, throwing back his head and exposing the pale curve of his throat before he swooped back down to capture Teddy's lips in a kiss that was all heat and hunger and _want_.

God did he _want_.

His hands, which had been clutching alternatively at Billy's calves and the worn fabric of the couch, finally found a moment of clarity as they raked underneath the other's shirt, skimming along his ribs with a pressed desperation. A strangled sound, somewhere between a gasp and a whimper passed through Billy’s lips and Teddy barely suppressed the bucking of his hips. He had a few seconds where his hands moved from ribs to the swell of Billy’s ass, holding him tight against his groin as the motion became more of a grind. At that point, he wasn’t sure who the sound was coming from; a low, needy snarl echoed through his chest as he pressed closer, wanting more, _needing_ more. It wasn’t long before Billy pulled back, just enough to catch his breath, his lips still hovering against Teddy’s, kiss-swollen and red.

Letting his head fall forward, Teddy rested it heavily against the curve of Billy’s shoulder, his lips mouthing over the fabric-covered skin. His mind was spinning, rushing forward fast with no inkling of slowing, and though he knew he was barrelling ahead much too quickly, Teddy really couldn’t find a reason to slow down. Not with Billy perched on his lap, lips parted and breath coming in too-quick gasps while his dark eyes were so full of desire.

“Billy,” he whispered, forcing himself to straighten up enough to see the student’s expression, to be able to peer into brown eyes and try to read what he saw there. “Hey.” There were probably more intelligent things he could have said, but he was fairly certain there was a doofy smile encapsulating his face while he moved one hand to rest against a pale cheek. Said cheek reddened beneath his touch, sending another shiver of need running through his spine.

“Hey yourself,” Billy replied, his normally-bright tone turned deep and husky with the moment.

Teddy swallowed around the lump in his throat, shifting his hips slightly and regretting the motion almost immediately as he felt the swell of his erection press hard against Billy’s thigh. “B, I need…”

Billy’s hands were on his face, roaming through his hair and down the curve of his back, pulling him close and holding him tight while his lips were scattering kisses _hot_ against his neck. He was fairly certain that he was moaning, head tilted back against the couch while his hips rolled upwards, fingers back to pressing almost-bruises into the flesh of Billy’s hipbones.

There was a breach in contact while lithe digits tugged at his shirt, Teddy moving forward obligingly to allow the fabric to be tossed to god-know-where. Billy’s hands were already making short work of his zipper, his lips lingering against Teddy’s chest, mapping a path while his fingers moved slowly. He felt the cool rush of air against his erection once it was freed from his jeans and boxers, though that feeling was quickly pushed aside as heat engulfed the head. It was all Teddy could do to keep his hips from rocking forward.

“Billy,” he keened, glancing down through his lashes to peer at the other, lips pulled tight over the tip of his cock, dark eyes watching him with a wild tinge. “I…”

Teddy wasn’t sure what he was going to say, the rest of the words becoming a garbled mess of a whimper as Billy’s head dipped lower, taking more of his length into that indescribable heat. He arched back against the couch, body taut as the other pulled back and licked a wet stripe up the side of his cock. Teddy was clutching at the couch cushions as though they were able to ground him, every inch of his conscious mind trying not to lose what semblance of control he still maintained. “We should…”

“I want to see you come apart,” Billy whispered, giving him only seconds to process the words before he was moving to create a wet suction with lips and tongue and so much _heat_.

All coherent thought left him, body rolling forward into the feeling of Billy’s mouth around him. When he managed to re-direct his gaze to the other, he had to stifle a series of sounds that could only be classified as embarrassing. Billy was watching him, lips stretched obscenely around the head of Teddy’s erection, moving slowly once he saw that the blond was watching him. Teddy felt his body give a shudder, his balls pulling tight.

“Billy, I…”

The other seemed to know, without further instruction, his hand coming to grasp the base of Teddy’s shaft as he tore his gaze away, re-doubling his efforts. Teddy let his head fall back against the couch as his hips lurched and rolled up, wanting, _needing_ more of that tight, wet, impossible heat. At some point, his hands had given up on destroying the cushions and tangled themselves into the dark strands of his lover’s hair. He had barely enough sense of mind left to keep his hips as flat as possible against the couch while his body shuddered through orgasm, the pressure on his cock slowly lessening. Glancing down, he managed to catch sight of Billy licking his lips as he pulled away from Teddy’s quickly-softening erection. If he hadn’t just come, it would have been enough to send a quiver of interest through his groin.

Billy clambered back onto the couch proper--his knees a little wobbly, Teddy noted. His hands found their way to the small of Billy’s back, feeling the heat radiating beneath his fingers. There was a soft sound, almost a whimper, and Billy’s hips rolled forward on his thigh.

“B, you… tell me what you want me to do,” he whispered, feeling the other’s erection pressing hard along his leg. Billy’s face was bright red before he buried his expression against Teddy’s collarbone.

“Teddy I… I really want…” his voice trailed off, going soft at the end and the words becoming muddled.

“Sorry?” Teddy asked, hands still rubbing soothing circles on the small of his back.

Billy murmured something against his skin and Teddy pulled at the hem of his brightly-colored tee shirt.

“Still didn’t quite catch that,” he teased, feeling a smile blossom across his lips.

Pulling back, dark hair a snarled mess (most likely from Teddy’s hands tugging at it only moments prior), Billy stared him down with a determined gaze. “I want to… I want to make love to you,” he managed, eyes darting off during the second half of the sentence, his ears a rosy pink.

Teddy brushed a palm across his cheek, forcing Billy’s gaze to meet his own. “I’d like that. Just… give me a minute.” He felt his own features reddening as he looked pointedly to his groin, his cock already stirring with interest.

“You can go again?” Billy asked, brows raised and the flush across his face deepening to a dark rouge.

“For you?” the blond grinned, nestling his fingers among espresso strands. “I can go all night.”

~~~~~~

Apparently, ‘I can go all night’ translated to ‘let us proceed agonizingly slowly.’

“Billy,” he keened, writhing beneath a heated trail of kisses across his stomach. Teddy was almost certain that his sheets were about three seconds from being torn, it was taking so much of his willpower to keep from arching into each gentle touch. “Please… I… I need…”

Dark eyes glanced up, lips hovering just south of his navel where Teddy’s cock gave another encouraging twitch. “I know,” Billy responded, a small grin working its way onto his lips.

“You ass,” Teddy growled, the expletive lacking any actual heat. He reached his hand as far as he could to the left, fumbling at the handle of his bedside table drawer. “Can you…? Please?” His voice was heady and light, mind struggling to form words through the haze of arousal. Billy seemed to understand what he was trying to get at, or at least understood the creeping desperation in his tone. Closing his eyes, he felt the student shift off him before he heard the drawer open, lithe fingers pulling out the small tube of lubricant and packet of condoms he had (perhaps over-eagerly) bought only a few weeks after meeting Billy for their first date at the museum.

Part of his consciousness resurfaced when he heard the soft rustle of clothing, his eyes opening enough to see Billy pulling the edge of his tee shirt up over his stomach. Teddy sat up, trying to reign in his desire to lick a hot stripe up the exposed area of skin. “Let me,” he whispered, resting his hands over those that trembled, ever so slightly. “Billy? Is everything okay?”

A flourish of pink sprawled across pale cheeks and Billy met his concerned gaze with one hovering between desire and uncertainty. “It’s just… been a while…” he whispered, cheeks continuing to color in darker and darker shades.

“That’s okay,” Teddy replied, pressing gentle kisses over heated cheeks as he brushed his thumb along the back of Billy’s hand until the minute tremors had ceased. “It’s been a while for me too. We’ll take it slow, and if you don’t like anything we’re doing, please, tell me?” His body felt so hot and needy that the delay almost made him want to scream, but Teddy didn’t want to ruin what that had worked so hard to earn with a singular interaction.

“Yeah, okay. I… you too, okay? Tell me if you don’t like something?” Billy wasn’t looking at him, but his hands had started moving to pull off his tee in slow, distracting movements.

Teddy couldn’t help himself from pressing a kiss below a pert nipple as it was exposed. “I’m pretty sure I’m going to love everything you do to me…”

The noise that pressed through Billy’s lips was almost enough to make him lose all self control, so he focused on tugging impatiently at the other’s belt instead.

~~~~~~

“I’m pretty sure I’m going to love everything you do to me…”

_Fuck._

Billy couldn’t stop himself from making possibly the most undignified noise he’d ever made in his life, somewhere between a groan and a whimper. He was surprised that Teddy didn’t just abandon him where he sat, half-naked and perched on the edge of the bedspread. Instead, the blond seemed insistent on removing any remaining clothing barriers between them, the bright blue of his eyes almost swallowed by the darkness of blown pupils.

_Fuck that’s hot._

Forcing his mind back to a trail of somewhat-coherent thought he helped Teddy shimmy off his jeans, leaving his boxers on for the time being (though the glaringly obvious tenting wasn’t leaving much doubt in anyone’s mind about what was going on beneath them). He felt his cheeks heating again but he found his courage and pressed a hand to the center of Teddy’s perfect, _perfect_ chest, urging him to lay back on the pillows. The blond was compliant, a sultry smile falling across his lips.

“Teddy,” he whispered, pressing close for another kiss, hard and hot and filthy, his tongue seeking forward to explore the heat of Teddy’s mouth, to battle for control over the response of Teddy’s own kiss arching back to meet him. Billy kept their hips hovering apart, if only to keep himself from rutting shamelessly against the other, his self-control apparently lacking around the detective. He slid a hand across each rib, over the well-sculpted form of Teddy’s stomach, trailing through the downy thicket of hair trailing from navel to groin. Billy felt the moan on his lips, kiss breaking barely enough to allow the sound to echo in the room.

“Please, Billy…”

The keening sound went right to his groin, erection giving an eager twitch as he fumbled his hand in the sheets for the lube. Fingers closed on the tube and he struggled with the lid while he licked and nipped a path that imitated the one his digits previously took, pleased to see that Teddy writhed with a hardly-there control against the sheets, hand fisted hard into a pillow. Billy pressed a soft kiss to the head of Teddy’s cock as he slicked his fingers, spilling some on the bedspread in the process but choosing to ignore that for the time being--it wasn’t important.

“Billy…”

He glanced up to see the blond watching him, eyes half-lidded and breath coming in stuttering cadences, loud in the quiet of the apartment. Billy was pretty sure he was on the verge of another embarrassing sound, so he chose instead to take as much of Teddy’s length into his mouth as he could, wrapping his free hand around the base. By the quivering of the other’s thighs, he assumed it was an effective distraction, the slight huff of air his only reaction as Billy swiped a slick finger across his entrance. Teddy rolled his hips down when it became apparent that Billy was teasing him, an impatient sound pressing through his pursed lips. Billy chuckled around his mouthful, earning a groan in response, as he pushed a finger in slowly, stopping just after the first knuckle before drawing back and pushing forward again, waiting until he felt the blond relax prior to moving any further.

Billy kept his mouth working the other to the point of quivering whimpers as he added first a second then a third digit, pressing them gently inside while he scissored them apart, waiting as patiently as he could for Teddy to vocalize an indication that he was ready, that this was okay.

“I… please…”

Billy glanced up to meet the blond’s heady gaze, his lips working their way off Teddy’s cock with a distinct _smack_. “Is this…?” _Too much? Too little? Am I fucking this up completely?_

“More…” Teddy keened, arching his hips down at the same time Billy crooked his fingers and oh _wow_ that got an amazing reaction; the blond curled his back off the bedspread, hands twisting and pulling so hard at the sheets that Billy was _sure_ they were going to tear. The litany of curses and moans that filtered through his flushed lips were enough to drive Billy mad, and he was shucking off his underwear as quickly as he possibly was able to with one hand. He removed his slick fingers to a sound of complaint from Teddy, applying a generous amount of lube to his aching erection before gently laying a hand along the back of the blond’s thigh, urging his legs apart.

“Teddy, are you… is this okay?” he whispered, forcing himself to keep still as he fought the noisy package of the condom and lined up, heat thundering through his veins in a dizzying array.

Teddy’s hand found his, squeezing hard, a smile crossing over his lips. “Please, B… I want you. I need this.”

Billy’s hips started a slow roll, watching Teddy’s face for any clues that this may be too much, but the other rolled his head to the side and moaned against the pillow. Once he was fully sheathed inside his lover, Billy leaned down to press a plethora of kisses across heat-flushed cheeks, his fingers rubbing gentle circles on Teddy’s thighs. He waited until he felt the other relax beneath him prior to beginning a steady rhythm, knowing his body was already screaming for release but determined to get Teddy there right alongside him.

“Billy!” Teddy cried, his body arching to meet each shuddering thrust, hand sliding over his sweat-slicked stomach to wrap eagerly around his own erection, pumping in time with Billy’s movements. “I’m close.”

_Fuck._

“Me too,” he hissed, allowing his body to choose its own pace, changing the angle of his movements just enough so each snap pressed _tighthotwet_ to that bundle of nerves he knew would toss Teddy tumbling over the edge. Within moments the blond was crying out beneath him, his release splashing warm over their bellies and suddenly everything was _so tight_ that Billy was falling right along with him, biting Teddy’s shoulder to stifle the curses fighting their way past his lips. His hips continued a slow roll, shallow thrusts bringing him down from a dizzying high, until Teddy was quietly mewling beneath him.

Billy forced himself back to reality, trying to clear the blur that was his mind, though having little success. He slowly pried away from Teddy, earning an unhappy grunt as he pulled out. With shaking fingers he tied off the condom and tossed it into the wastebasket near the bed, grabbing a handful of tissues and wiping them both off lazily before snuggling back up along a broad side. Teddy wound an arm around his shoulders and pulled him closer, his heavy breaths ruffling through Billy’s sweat-slicked hair.

“Mmmm…”

“Ditto,” Billy answered, chuckling as he tucked his head into the crook of the other’s neck. There was a contented feeling in the pit of his stomach as he drifted quickly to sleep, only vaguely recalling whispered words and the feeling of a comforter pulled across them both.

~~~~~~

“Billy, you have to get up.”

“Mmmgfno… Don’t wanna…” Billy buried his face into the pillows, pulling the blankets up as much as the body beside him would allow.

There was a quiet chuckle and then a press of lips to his shoulder, his spine, hands sliding down to his ass. His bare ass.

_Oh. Oh yeah._

Billy felt his cheeks color as he rolled his head to glare at the blond, who didn’t seem the least bit phased by the narrowed eyes.

“I made coffee.”

He made a noise that could probably be considered obscene as he slowly shifted his weary body into an almost-seated position. “God, I love you,” Billy mumbled through the sleep haze, words drifting around in his mind until they, coupled by the silence, caused an embarrassed flush to rear full force across his features. “Oh, shit. I, uh…”

_Oh god, did I just say that? Fuck, fuck, **fuck**. I must seem so fucking..._

“I love you too,” Teddy answered quickly, pressing a kiss to the corner of Billy’s mouth before he slipped out of bed, already dressed in a pair of jeans and a pale green tee. “You want breakfast?”

“No, I’m good with coffee,” he muttered, focusing on the sheets and on controlling the heat in his face. “I’ll just get dressed and be out in a minute.”

“Okay. Did you want a lift today?” Teddy asked, pausing in the doorway to wait for an answer.

“Oh, uh. To the train station, if you’re already driving somewhere. I don’t want you to have to drive all over.” He was fiddling with the blankets, fixing his gaze anywhere but the blond. After a few moments, he glanced up to see Teddy smiling at him warmly.

“It’s no trouble. But I can drop you at the station if you’d rather.”

“Please.”

“You bet. Coffee is ready whenever you are.”

Teddy left the room then, Billy watching him go and waiting until the door had closed completely prior to flinging off the blankets and hurrying into his spare clothes (which the other had thankfully retrieved from the living room, probably at some point when Billy was sleeping the morning away). He took a few moments to compose himself, attempting to flatten his hair in vain, before joining Teddy at the small kitchen table, mug already waiting for him.

~~~~~~

Shifting the weight of his duffle bag, Teddy shouldered his way into the small apartment he had called home for the better part of nineteen years. Unsurprisingly, the door was unlocked, despite the fact that Teddy had his own key and complained numerous times about the oversight (to no avail). He heard the dulcet tones of Stevie Nicks lilting down the hallway as he dropped his bag at the (now locked, thank you) door and headed towards the smallest room, tucked away at the end of the hall.

“You re-did the entryway again. Pink?”

“It’s _grand sunset_.” His mother was up a ladder, balanced on the step that read ‘NOT A STEP; DO NOT STAND’ in huge red letters on the side. Teddy resisted the urge to argue with her on it, instead stepping over and holding the base to keep it from teetering as she swept her paintbrush along the edge of a cloud.

“Couldn’t find a big enough canvas this time?” he asked, gesturing to the wall-sized mural she had going: there were the beginnings of a rocky shore awash with waves, bright blue skies dotted with puffy white clouds.

Sarah Altman grinned down at him from her unsafe position, a smear of cerulean across the bridge of her nose, mingled with a smattering of freckles. Her sunny locks were twisted up into a bun at the crown of her head, tendrils snaking out to curl against her cheeks and neck. As always, her smile made him miss all of this, made his heart feel homesick, even though it had been years since he thought of this as ‘home.’

“I thought it would be nice to see the ocean sometimes when I’m working. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but it’s turning into quite the project,” she replied, rubbing a wayward strand from her cheek and smearing it with greyish-white in the process.

Teddy bit back a chuckle but he was able to tell by her frown that he was already caught. “Did you plan on turning yourself into a canvas there too, mom?”

She glanced at herself, seeing only the few splashes on her ‘paint clothes’ and not thinking her face was quickly becoming a piece of artwork on its own. “Okay, smart ass. Dinner is in the oven, can you check on it and I’ll get cleaned up?” Sarah was scaling her way down the ladder before he even had time to steady it, though she leapt to the ground and swiped the paintbrush along Teddy’s cheek for good measure. “And you’ve got a little something right there,” she said, pointing to the same spot on her own face and smiling.

He watched as she hummed and shimmied her way down the hallway with a shake of his head. Some things never changed, and for that he was grateful.

Upon examining the ‘turkey,’ it became obvious that some things _definitely_ didn’t change.

“Mom? Exactly how black is this thing supposed to look?” he called, peering through the oven window, unsure whether he wanted to risk the smoke detector by opening it.

“What?!” she shouted from somewhere in the depths of her bedroom, bursting into the kitchen a second later with her face paint-free. Without waiting for a warning from her son, she yanked open the oven and plumes of smoke quickly filled the tiny kitchen, setting off the smoke detector in seconds. Teddy rushed to open the window and quickly snagged a towel from the counter, fanning it over the screaming device until it finally quieted.

After yanking the ruined ‘turkey’ from the oven and dumping it unceremoniously into the sink, his mom stared at it for what felt like ages as he attempted to wrangle the rest of the smoke out the window. “Hey, mom? It’s okay… Next year we’ll totally nail this thing.” He was halfway to putting a comforting hand on her shoulder when she turned and smiled brightly.

“How do you feel about Moo Shu Pork and Mandarin Chicken?”

“Sounds great, mom.”

~~~~~~

For what felt like the eight thousandth time in the last five minutes, Billy barely managed to flail his laptop out of harm’s way as the twins knocked yet another tower of jello cubes across the kitchen table.

“Watch it!” he yelped, wondering how he was going to get green slime out from between the keys in his keyboard, as it was becoming more and more of an inevitability.

“Sorry,” the boys chimed in unison--as if it weren’t the most annoying thing on the face of the planet. Billy was pretty sure they weren’t even sorry.

Grumbling, he turned back to his computer and attempted to hammer out another few pages of his essay (the one that he may or may not have received an extension on). He got about five words in before whatever project the boys were working on had yet another ‘explosion’ incident, sending a splatter of green translucent goop across his screen.

“That’s it!” he shouted, standing and moving his laptop out of the range of fire. “I’m going to my room.”

Billy was halfway through his rampaging stalk up the stairs when he heard his mother call from behind him. “Yeah?” he shouted back, pausing and hoping she didn’t want him to remain within a ten foot radius of the double-disaster tornado.

“Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes,” she repeated, exasperation clear in her tone.

“Right!” he hollered, taking the stairs two at a time and darting into his room before she tried to wrangle him into helping with the boys’ biology project or something. With the edge of his sleeve, Billy tried to remove the worst of the jello, only making it smear across the screen in a thin film. He collapsed onto the bed and yanked out his phone, smashing his fingers against the surface as he sent off a furious flurry of texts.

**BILLY:** _Thanksgiving can bite my ass_

**CASSIE:** _Family that much fun, huh?_

_At least you don’t have to sit through Charlie Brown_

**BILLY:** _That doesn’t sound so bad_

**CASSIE:** _4 the 8th time_

_Blake knows all the lines_

_plz tell me how u r worse off_

_ur pain may ease my suffering_

**BILLY:** _Uh…_

_My laptop is now green?_

**CASSIE:** _Unless it is green because of some Hulk thing I’m not impressed_

**BILLY:** _It’s jello?_

**CASSIE:** _Go have fun with your family u weenie_

Billy frowned at his phone screen, obviously garnering no sympathy from Cassie on the matter of computer versus jello. He was halfway through a whining text to Eli when his phone buzzed with a quick message and a picture from Teddy. The complaining blurb to Eli was promptly abandoned.

**TEDDY:** _Happy Thanksgiving! :)_

It took him a few moments to parse out what he was looking at in the photo, the lighting from the television skewed the visibility of everything else in the room. After a few minutes he managed to see that it was Teddy, and a woman he assumed was his mom, taking a selfie in front of what looked like the living room table covered in an array of Chinese take-out containers. They were both grinning, the same dimples creasing the corners of their mouths.

**BILLY:** _Is that Buffy on the tv?_

**TEDDY:** _Only the very best at the Altman household_

_How’s your break going?_

**BILLY:** _The usual_

_I want to murder my brothers_

_And mom is trying to psychoanalyze my desire to stay in my room_

**TEDDY:** _Haha, it can’t be that bad_

_We’re starting another episode_

_Might not text for a bit_

**BILLY:** _Ok talk to you soon_

_If I survive_

Billy finished off the text and found himself grinning at the tiny screen. He saved the photo to his collection before he heard his mother calling up the stairs again. Assuming he may as well get dinner over with, he headed out of the sanctity of his room and into the hall, preparing mentally for the thousands of mundane questions he would get about his schoolwork.

~~~~~~

In keeping with tradition, Teddy found himself curled on the over-stuffed sofa in the living room, picking through take-out containers for all of the cashews (before they _mysteriously_ disappeared) and wondering how the hell no one else in Sunnydale seemed to notice that half the town’s population consisted of demon bloodsuckers.

“Seriously, how did no one see that the mayor is evil incarnate? Look at that hairpiece, it’s horrible,” Sarah exclaimed, trying to distract him while she dug around for the last few nuts in the moo goo gai pan.

“Because they’re all under some kind of evil magic hypnosis?” Teddy offered, setting down the empty container of chow mein and slouching against the back of the couch. His phone buzzed incessantly from his pocket and he spared a glance in his mom’s direction prior to grabbing it and sifting through the wall of texts. He couldn’t keep the grin from seeping onto his face as he replied, biting back the urge to chuckle. When he looked up again, Sarah was watching him from the opposite end of the sofa, the corners of her eyes crinkled from the width of her smirk.

“So… who’s the lucky boy?”

“ _Mom_!” he wailed, feeling his cheeks start to heat and forcing it back just as quick.

“Oh, sorry. I mean man. Who’s the lucky _man_?”

“It’s not that kind of…”

She gave him a flat look, the same one she used to give him when he tried to get away with a lie even though she always saw right through him.

“Theodore, please. I’ve seen what that look means. Heck, I’ve been there myself a long time ago.”

“...in a galaxy far, far away,” he mumbled under his breath, trying not to smile.

Sarah ruffled her fingers through his hair, the pale strands scattering and standing to attention in awkward directions. “You don’t have to talk to me about it, but you know he’s always welcome here.” She stood up as the credits started rolling on the episode, meandering off to the kitchen with her arms full of dessicated take-out boxes. Teddy turned his attention back to the texts, managing to shoot off a few replies before his mom popped her head around the corner.

“Tell him we have pie!”

“Mom!” he cried, feeling his face heating up all over again.

“Hey, I didn’t burn this one!” She boasted, beaming at him before disappearing back into the other room.

He chuckled and sent another series of texts, shaking his head after a few more ‘pings’ came back. Getting up from the couch, he gathered the last of the leftovers and brought them into the kitchen, trying to shuffle around the strange looking vegetables in the fridge (some kind of mutant hybrid between broccoli and cauliflower, possibly a rutabaga, and that was definitely kale) and make room for the boxes. He knew that Sarah was hovering over his shoulder, but he made a point of ignoring her for as long as possible.

“So?”

Her patience wasn’t quite as hardy as his.

Teddy chuckled and gave her a soft smile. “He’s coming over, probably be here in about thirty minutes. I’ll meet him at the subway.”

Sarah’s face lit up and she pulled two pies from the freezer. “Excellent! I hope he likes pumpkin, or bumbleberry. Otherwise I don’t know if I can give you two my blessing.”

“ _Mom_ , oh god,” he replied, feeling his face heat but letting the laughter bubble up and through him, taking over before he had any ability to stop it. All of the nervousness he had been feeling, all of the concern seemed to be shucking from his shoulders. Something so simple left him feeling so much lighter, and while he couldn’t explain it, Teddy was infinitely grateful.

“Thanks, mom.”

“Hm?” she questioned, turning her attention from unwrapping the pies to digging through the cutlery drawers.

“Nothing, just… yeah. Thanks.”

She glanced over her shoulder, a knowing smile already in place. “You’re welcome.”

~~~~~~

**BILLY:** _OMG send help_

_stupid brothers started a food fight_

_I have mashed potatoes in my hair_

_how is this my life?_

**TEDDY:** _we murdered another ‘turkey’_

_proudly upholding Altman family traditions_

_how did your parents let them get away with a food fight?_

**BILLY:** _Don’t you know, T._

_They were just expressing their ‘creativity’_

_Oh my god it’s in my shirt_

_Do not laugh. I swear to god, Teddy_

**TEDDY:** _Too late_

_Sorry_

**BILLY:** _UGH_

_Hope your holiday is going better than this_

**TEDDY:** _It’s good, just starting another episode of Buffy_

**BILLY:** _Aw, jealous_

**TEDDY:** _You could come over_

_If you want_

_Mom mentioned pie_

**BILLY:** _You had me at pie_

_Text me the address?_

**TEDDY:** _You bet_

_See you soon?_

**BILLY:** _Soon! :)_

Billy reviewed the series of texts as he started across the subway platform, forcing his numb digits to fire off a quick ‘ _I’m here_ ’ before heading up the stairs. There weren’t many people milling around, it was too early in the evening for people to be heading home and most were probably still half-asleep in a turkey coma on their couches. He felt a little flutter of something in his chest when he saw Teddy waiting for him at the other side of the turnstile, waving sheepishly the moment their eyes locked.

“You didn’t have to come get me,” Billy said as he shoved his way through the rotating gates.

Teddy shrugged and wrapped an arm about his shoulders the moment he was close enough to do so. “I know. I wanted to. Our place is kind of… tricky to get to sometimes.”

Chuckling, he nudged a broad shoulder and snaked his hand into Teddy’s pocket. He might have forgotten gloves, but pockets were as good a source of heat as any. “Lead the way to the pie!” Billy shouted, pointing onwards with his free hand.

“Oh, I see how it is. You’re only bearing the cold for pie.”

“Duh. It’s practically winter out here. Pie is the only salvation.”

Teddy laughed, bumping his hip as they made their way through the near-deserted side streets. “Well, hopefully the pie doesn’t wind up like everything else in the Altman household on Thanksgiving… Or we might be crashing the diner down the street.”

Something about that didn’t sound terrible, though it could have been the fondness in Teddy’s voice when he spoke. He seemed more relaxed than he had been, and Billy was grateful for it, happy that the edge of tension between them appeared to be fading. “If we do, I totally call dibs on a booth.”

“Hm, I wonder if they take reservations.” Teddy led them up to an apartment building that had seen better days (and probably needed a good coat of paint in the entryway), though it looked clean and bright as they walked up the three flights of stairs.

“Seriously,” Billy huffed, clinging alternatively to the railing and his boyfriend’s arm. “You do remember that I possibly ate half a turkey to myself?”

He felt Teddy scruff a hand through his hair before hearing the warm sound of his laugh. “Yeah, yeah. Well I hope you saved room for pie,” he said, pushing into apartment 312 prior to tugging Billy along with him.

The first thing he noticed was the overwhelming scent of spice and flakey crust wafting through the air, making his stomach growl in appreciation. “Yeah, okay. Maybe I have room for pie. Pink walls?” he asked, motioning as he hung up his outerwear and shucked off his boots.

“Shh, it’s _grand sunset_ ,” Teddy teased, a smiled blossoming on his face.

“Teddy? Are you back?” A woman’s voice lilted from the kitchen, soft and warm and with a hint of that raspy tone that sometimes slipped into Teddy’s words when he was overtired.

“Yeah, ma. We’re just getting our boots sorted.”

Billy had barely stepped around the bend in the hall before he was pulled into a hug and launched outwards at arm’s length, just as suddenly.

_Oh wow. She has Teddy’s eyes._

“I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure. I’m Sarah, Teddy’s mom,” she chirped, grinning before focusing her attention over his shoulder, at (Billy assumed) her son. “And Teddy, you better promise to bring him by more often or I’m withholding pie privileges from you.”

“Yes mom,” he heard from Teddy’s general direction, Sarah’s arms dropped from his shoulders after an affectionate squeeze. “This is Billy. Billy, my mom. She’s only half as crazy as she looks, I swear.”

“I resent that,” Sarah huffed, making a show of twisting her hair into an increasingly scattered shape prior to re-securing it with a jumbo clip. Billy was trying to decipher if it was a hair clip, or one meant for re-sealing bags. “I’m always as crazy as I look,” she teased with a wink before sidling back into the kitchen. “C’mon boys, pie waits for no one!”

Teddy shot an apologetic look his way, mouthing ‘I’m so sorry.’

“It’s okay,” Billy whispered in response, moving to give Teddy’s hand a tug and lean against his side. “At least she doesn’t throw mashed potatoes at you.”

~~~~~~

“So, Billy. You’re a student? What are you taking?”

“Oh, uh, Psychology,” he replied, fiddling with the handle of his mug while Teddy cleared the dishes. They’d managed to demolish all but a few pieces of the two pies, the remainder being dubbed ‘breakfast pie’ by Teddy’s mom.

Billy really liked her.

“That’s amazing! So what led you to that particular career path?” Sarah had her hands wrapped around a bright pink mug, decorated with purple and blue swirls and great big letters that announced ‘BEST MOM’ in sloppy printing. The thought of a young Teddy, carefully attending to all the details of painting (while covered in a great deal of the color himself), made Billy grin.

“Well, my mom is a Psychologist so I guess I’ve just been exposed to the psychobabble since my time in the womb.”

She laughed, full and trilling, as she leaned back in the dining room chair to give Teddy a swat where he stood at the sink. While they spoke in hushed tones, Billy took in the tiny kitchen with its mismatched chairs and floral curtains, a sturdy table that had seen better days with a paint-spattered tablecloth, spiralling patterns of color on the one free wall and a huge clock centered in the middle of an abstract moonbeam. It was probably the smallest kitchen he’d ever been inside of, but it felt so warm, so comfortable, so much like a _home_ that he couldn’t help but relax.

He twisted the mug of coffee between his palms, watching Teddy interact with his mom, feeling his heart flutter when the blond man’s face lit up moments before he burst into laughter.

“Mom, seriously! Don’t show him that!”

Billy snapped out of his comfortable daze just as Sarah was rounding on him with a huge grin. “How would you like to see some photos, Billy?”

“Photos?”

“ _Moooooooom_!” Teddy wailed, covering her mouth with his hands and looking pleadingly towards the other occupant of the table. “You don’t want to see ‘em, Billy. I promise. They’re horrible. Awful. _Wretched_ even.”

“Well if you’re trying to hide them that badly…” he teased, smirking as he watched Teddy put on a mockery of an ‘appalled’ expression prior to mouthing ‘ _traitor_.’

Sarah laughed and squirmed out of her son’s grip, heading off down the hallway. “I just have to find them, won’t take me a minute!” she chimed, the distinct ‘click’ of a door giving them a few moments of privacy.

Teddy groaned as he settled onto a chair at the table, scruffing his palm across his face. Billy was pretty sure he saw the edge of a flush through his fingers.

“Sorry,” the blond grumbled, peering through his digits to watch Billy with blue eyes. “She gets kind of… carried away.”

Billy chuffed, reaching across the surface between them to grasp Teddy’s hand and tug it away from his face. He was definitely blushing, and it made the student’s heart do a quick flip in his chest before settling into an uneasy rhythm. “Hey, it’s okay. If we were at my place, my mom would probably be pulling out old school projects and talking about how they ‘predicted my development’ or something.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad,” he replied, giving Billy’s hand a gentle squeeze.

“Yeah, well… You haven’t heard her go into a ‘lecture’ rant before.” Billy’s eyes moved to wander over the painted wall again and he motioned to it with a nod of his head. “Did you do this one?”

“No, this one was mom. Most of them are, except my old room. That was always my space to do whatever I wanted. Well, as long as I didn’t knock holes in the wall.”

Grinning, he ran his thumb across Teddy’s knuckles, memorizing the feel of each knob and callous. “Now I know where you got your artistic streak from.”

“And the crazy. Don’t forget the crazy,” the blond replied, chuckling and shaking his head.

They both heard Sarah dropping albums in the hall (softly cursing all the while) well before she made it to the kitchen. “Billy you are in for a treat!”

“Oh god. Mom, please. Haven’t I been embarrassed enough in my life?” Teddy complained, though Billy could see the edge of a grin at the corner of his mouth.

“No, probably not,” she answered, setting down the first album on the kitchen table with a heavy ‘thump.’

~~~~~~

They made it through two albums before Billy started yawning into his tea. He was trying to keep himself awake, but the boys had run screaming through the house at six thirty that morning, so his sleep schedule was pretty much shot. Teddy and Sarah both took note of his weariness at the same time, exchanging some sort of secret code look before she stood from the table and gathered the mugs.

“Billy, you’re more than welcome to stay the night. It’s awfully late, and I honestly wouldn’t feel good about letting you walk home at this hour. I mean, as long as it’s alright with your folks,” she glanced over her shoulder after setting the mugs to soak in the sink.

Teddy was looking anywhere but at Billy, the tips of his ears starting to redden as he examined a particularly colorful paint blotch on the tablecloth. Obviously, he hadn’t expected this either.

“Sure. I’ll call my parents and let them know,” he replied, grinning broadly at the startled sound Teddy made across the table. It sounded sort of like an objection, though the shy smile working its way onto his lips said otherwise.

After he slipped out of the kitchen and into the living room, Billy heard a hushed conversation carrying between Teddy and his mom, something that sounded more like teasing than an actual argument. He fired off a quick text to his parents before returning to find both sets of blue eyes watching him.

“Uh…” he mumbled, blinking slowly as he watched Sarah fake a rather obvious yawn.

“Well, I’m going to bed. You boys don’t stay up too late. G’night, Teddy,” she whispered the last words, pressing a soft kiss to the wisps of curls atop Teddy’s head prior to smiling and pulling Billy into a strangle-tight hug. “And goodnight to you too, Billy. I’m glad I finally get to meet you.”

_She smells like watercolor and lavender._

Billy returned the hug and murmured a ‘good night’ of his own before she was off and down the hall, a gentle ‘click’ signalling that her bedroom door was shut. Once they were alone, he looked to Teddy, who was still staring at the paint splotch on the linen as though he could melt it away with his eyes.

“T, you tired?” he asked as he settled on the chair beside him, fingers snaking out to grasp at the other’s hand.

“No, not exactly.” There was something weary in the blond’s tone and it made a tight knot clutch at the center of Billy’s chest. He squeezed Teddy’s hand instead, trying to ease some his own discomfort.

“What's wrong?”

_What did I do?_

“It’s…” The word hung heavy in the air and then faltered as Teddy sighed and offered Billy a too-sweet smile, one of those ones he used to avoid real confrontation. “It’s nothing. Let’s just go to bed. I’m probably overtired from work.”

“Yeah, sure,” Billy answered, standing up again and following Teddy’s broad shoulders into a small bedroom off the entryway. Though he couldn’t see much in the dimness, there was enough light spilling from the open window to see the outlines of skyscrapers and skylines fading pink to purple to a blue-black of nighttime. His mind drifted from concern to awe as he hovered his fingers over the walls, mural stretching across all four corners of the room. He fully intended to ask Teddy about the painting, to flip on the lights and take a better look, but when he turned around all he was able to focus on was the hunched figure on the bed, head heavy between his palms.

“Teddy?” He moved close, kneeling in front of where the other sat, perched on the edge of the bedspread. Billy could almost _feel_ the tension running through him, across the rise and fall of his chest with each controlled breath. He couldn’t see Teddy’s face from where he was, the other’s hands in the way, so he pressed his fingers against a knee in a way he hoped was soothing. “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t do this,” came the garbled reply, his voice heavy and edging on a sob.

_Oh._

Billy pulled his hand back, feeling the tremor running through his fingers and hoping that Teddy didn’t pick up on it. “Oh. Yeah… uh… I should just… go, then…” he whispered, standing and backing towards the door, wondering if he would even be able to get a cab at this hour.

He felt the tug on the sleeve of his hoodie, and though he paused partway to the door, he couldn’t bring himself to look at Teddy, not right now. Not when he felt the quiver in his voice before he even spoke. There was no way he could talk, not now, not when he was so close to breaking.

“Billy, don’t go.” Teddy sounded as wrecked as he felt, but he still couldn’t look, shoulders hunched as he stared pointedly at the door knob.

_Why are you doing this? Why are we doing this? Why do we keep coming back here?_

Clenching his hands at his sides, it took every ounce of his willpower not to leave, to turn away and go home and try to figure out where this had all gone so wrong. He turned to look at the blond, ready to come back with a snappy retort, an angry outburst that was bubbling just under the surface, but it curled up and died in his throat.

“I… I don’t want you to get hurt,” Teddy whispered, finally moving his gaze from the carpet, eyes filled with regret and guilt and something that created a twisted, growing ache somewhere deep in Billy’s chest.

“Hurt?” he managed to croak out around the lump in his throat. “What are you talking about?”

The detective’s mouth opened, closed, opened again, but no sound came out. Billy felt his anger rising again, an unrelenting heat pressing forward from behind his ribcage, sparking across his skin. He tore his sleeve out of the blond’s grip, letting the tears well in his eyes and fall freely down his cheeks. Teddy watched him with a mingled look of shock and regret, but Billy was tumbling forward, letting the words flow as easily as the damp trails on his face.

“You’re already hurting me, T. With all of this back and forth, it hurts!” Billy smeared his face with the edge of his sleeve, knowing he probably looked like shit and it was only going to get worse from here with puffy red eyes and a voice ravaged by anger and anguish and everything he had tried to keep contained. “I don’t know what the hell is going on, but I’ve noticed. You’re hiding something, avoiding me, trying to keep me in the dark on whatever this all is. But I’m sick of it! I’m sick of trying to figure out what’s going on with you, what’s going on with us…”

_Trying to figure out what’s wrong with me…_

“Billy, I…” Teddy hadn’t moved from his position, still seated on the edge of the bed with his hands clenching his knees so tight his knuckles were paling. “I didn’t mean for… for you to feel like that,” he whispered, eyes darting back to the carpet.

“How was I supposed to feel? Whatever is going on, we need to talk it out right now, or…”

_Or I leave._

_I don’t want to leave._

_Please don’t let me ruin this._

“Or I don’t know what we’re going to. Probably self-destruct or… or something,” he grumbled, scraping a hand through his hair and collapsing onto the bed beside Teddy. He didn’t bother looking at the other, but soon enough he felt the weight distribution change as the blond settled onto his back beside him.

“I’m sorry,” Teddy whispered, his hand finding Billy’s atop the bedspread and brushing his thumb along the backs of his knuckles.

Staying quiet for as long as possible (which, given the anxious rumbling in his bones, wasn’t very long), Billy squeezed the other’s hand while watching the starry ceiling above them. “Is it about that case?” he asked, voice softer than he expected it would be.

“Yeah, something like that.” He heard the movement at the same time he felt the dip in the mattress, strong arms winding around his frame. “I just wouldn’t be able to live with myself if you got hurt by getting caught up in… all of this. Whatever _this_ is.”

Billy frowned, shoving away enough to get a glimpse of the conflicted emotions skittering across Teddy’s face. “You don’t have to protect me.”

“Yeah, I kinda do. I got you thrown into this whole mess in the first place and…”

“Teddy, look at me.” He tried to keep his voice as still as possible, though even he could hear the quiver of anger behind it. When the other didn’t meet his gaze, Billy pressed his hands along the smooth line of his jaw and forced his eyes up to his own. “I do not need your protection. It’s sweet, really, but I’m not some helpless damsel for you to keep an eye on.”

“But…”

“No,” he growled, feeling the anger bubbling higher and hotter and using every inch of self-control to keep it contained. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to keep an eye out for me. Please don’t end this for something so…” _stupid_ “avoidable. I love you, let me help you.”

Billy felt the blond tense under his fingers, so he changed tactics, pressing forward again and letting his mouth press hard against Teddy’s lips, trying to convey everything with so much less than words. Words carried on without him, leaving behind meaning until they were nothing but babble. Billy just hoped that all the emotion pouring through his thundering heart was making it through their tentative connection.

When they broke, Teddy was still frowning, though his body felt less tense beneath Billy’s lithe fingers. A huge sigh shuddered through the blond before he managed to find his voice.

“Okay.”

“Okay?” Billy frowned, not sure if this was better or worse.

“Okay. I… I really don’t want to give this up either,” he whispered, moving forward to bury his face in the crook of Billy’s jaw. "I love you too."

“So you’re not going to be trying to subconsciously protect me from the boogeyman?” Billy smiled, unable to help it, since the other was pressing gentle kisses to his collarbone. It kind of tickled.

“No promises. I already checked the closet and under the bed.”

Laughing, he ruffled blond locks affectionately and pressed a quick kiss to Teddy’s temple. “C’mon. We can talk about this tomorrow when we’re not three blinks away from falling into a turkey-day coma.”

“Deal.”

~~~~~~

The next morning was bright, way too bright, and Billy promptly buried his head under a bundle of sheets and pillows that smelled distinctly like… rosemary? His eyes shot open and he looked blearily around the room he only half-recognized before his gaze came to rest on the sleepy lump beside him. Leaning over, he brushed a sheaf of hair aside with a grin.

“Hey sleepyhead… Didn’t know it was physically possible for you to sleep past six,” he teased, pressing a kiss to Teddy’s cheek when the other groaned and tried to hide beneath his arms.

“S’not six…” Teddy complained, voice still heavy from slumber.

“Nope, it’s nearly eleven.”

“ **What**.” Groaning, he managed to get into a sitting position prior to rubbing at his eyes. Billy was trying not to laugh at his mad case of bedhead (since he was sure that his was not much better in the least). “I was s’posed to make breakfast…”

“I guess brunch will have to do.” Stretching his lanky arms above his head, Billy felt the creaks and pops along his spine. “Why do the sheets smells like herbs?”

“What?” Teddy blinked at him, still processing the question in his half-alert state.

“The sheets. They smell like rosemary,” Billy answered, padding to the center of the room and continuing to crack and stretch his back along the way.

The blond lifted the edge of the fabric in question and held it to his face, inhaling deeply. He let out a soft chuckle that Billy swore he could feel right down to the tips of his toes. “That’s linen spray. Some old-school stuff mom insists on buying even though she can only get it online now.”

“Oh. I like it. It smells nice,” he mumbled, trying not to think about how nice it smelled interlaced with Teddy’s own mossy scent. “Do you have a shirt I could borrow? Mine probably still stinks like mashed potatoes and gravy.”

Chuckling, Teddy motioned to the dresser across the room. “There might be something in there. Most of it doesn’t fit me anymore anyway.”

Billy moved to rifle through the drawers, managing to find a navy sweater and white tee that weren’t _too_ horribly enormous on him. “Are these okay?” he asked, stripping off his previous shirt and tugging on the new clothes.

“Uh… Yeah,” Teddy murmured slowly and Billy didn’t miss the hint of a blush arching across his cheeks.

“Do you want some help with brunch?”

“You think you can handle cutting up some fruit?”

“Totally. Master chef here, remember?”

“How could I forget?”

~~~~~~

“This is **so** not a fruit.”

“Of course it is. It has seeds, so it’s a fruit,” he replied, waving the spatula at the fleshy white middle of the object in question.

“Those are _seeds_?” Billy wailed, jabbing at the little black dots with the end of his paring knife.

Teddy couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yes, those are seeds. The white part is the fruit and anything pink is skin, you can peel that off. Just dice the rest in big chunks.”

“This is one weird-ass fruit,” he complained but did as instructed, albeit with running commentary about the ‘scales’ and ‘slimy texture.’

“Morning boys.” Sarah yawned her way into the kitchen, making a beeline for the coffee maker that already had her mug waiting at its side.

“Morning, Mrs. Altman.”

“It’s almost noon, mom.”

“Hush. Where’s your holiday spirit. And please, Billy, just Sarah is fine. The rest makes me sound… old.” She scooped a chunk of dragon fruit off the cutting board seconds before Billy put the knife down again and made her way onto a chair at the table, cradling her mug between her palms.

Teddy flipped the pancakes as they started to bubble before glancing at his mom, sunken low in her chair. She looked tired, which either meant she had stayed up late with a project or…

_She probably heard us fighting._

He felt his cheeks heat at the thought and stared pointedly at the half-full bowl of batter, whisking out non-existent lumps when he felt the need to do something productive with his hands.

“Thanks again for letting me stay the night,” Billy said, always keen to fill a silence and Teddy was grateful for it.

Sarah beamed at him over her coffee. “Oh, no problem. I hope you slept alright. Sometimes I think my son has been replaced in the night with a rusty garburator.”

“ _Mom_ ,” he hissed, tipping the finished pancakes onto a plate and settling it onto the sideboard before adding more batter to the pan.

“What? It’s true! I used to come running to check on you only to see you were completely out,” she teased, her smile turning from pleasant to knowing in a flash.

_Yup, she heard us._

He glanced to Billy to see if the other had caught on, though his mother’s concern was usually only palpable to him. But the dark-haired man was chattering on about his brothers, taking no notice of the silent conversation passing between mother and son. He shot her a look that he hoped was reassuring and she just offered back a small, understanding smile. Sometimes he didn’t know how she did it, read him better than he ever knew himself.

Must be a mom thing.

~~~~~~

Breakfast was mostly quiet, well, quiet in terms of the amount of conversation--Billy tried to engage Sarah on a few topics, though she obviously wasn’t where Teddy got his bizarre ‘morning-person’ nature from. So he and Teddy waxed poetic on the new action/sci-fi flick that was coming out after the holidays while she listened in prior to excusing herself and toddling down the hall to her ‘work room.’

“She’s got a big project on the go,” Teddy answered as they were shrugging on their coats, heading out to face the chill in the air.

“Should I say goodbye?” he asked, winding the scarf around his neck and jamming his tee shirt from the day before into his jacket pocket.

Teddy paused, head tilted to the side, listening. “Nah. She forgot to turn on the music so either she’s really in the zone or she fell asleep on the daybed. Probably best not to disturb her either way.”

They walked in relative silence to the subway, Billy sticking close to the blond’s side, fingers brushing at Teddy’s hand until the other smiled and took hold. It was very quiet after that, the distance between his parent’s brownstone and the subway station barely a few blocks. Billy could feel a tiny swell of panic knowing they were running out of ‘alone time’ together, at least for a little while, and he knew there were still a million things they needed to discuss and--

“Hey, we’re good. Right?” Teddy wasn’t looking at him, his gaze caught somewhere across the street as his hand squeezed tight.

Billy smiled and returned the slight pressure, leaning against him heavily. “Yeah. I… We probably still need to talk about stuff but… we’re good. You and me, super good. Like, hella good.” He didn’t realize he was babbling until they were at his stoop, Teddy chuckling quietly at his side. “Oh. This is me.”

He watched as the blond stared up at the building, letting a low whistle pass through his lips. “Wow. You grew up in style.”

“I don’t know about that,” he said, glaring at the rustle of curtains he saw at the living room window. “So, uh… I’ll see you again soon?”

“Really soon,” Teddy replied before leaning in and pressing a gentle kiss to Billy’s lips. He felt the tremor running up his spine and he clung to the sleeves of Teddy’s jacket, returning the kiss eagerly. His mind was so preoccupied with thoughts of _warm_ and _Teddy_ and _mine_ that he almost didn’t hear the whooping and hollering coming from the brownstone.

Almost.

Billy glanced at the window just in time to see two dark-haired brats scurry away from view, the curtains swaying back into place. “Shit.”

“Shit?” Teddy asked, looking to the window with confusion.

Opening his mouth, he intended to explain prior to it all spiralling straight to hell, but the front door swinging wide broke his sentence before it started.

“Hello, William. And… I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure of meeting your friend?”

_Shit, shit, shit, shitshitshitshit._

“Hi mom. This is Teddy,” he managed, his mouth fumbling around the words. Billy felt the flush carrying all the way down the back of his neck and he ducked his head before taking the steps two at a time.

“Hi, Mrs. Kaplan.” Even Teddy’s voice sounded a bit… _off_.

_I’m going to kill those little jerkbags._

“Rebecca, who’s that?” Billy heard his dad shouting from somewhere in the house, probably the kitchen, since it was right around lunch.

“Oh, it’s William’s friend Teddy,” she called back, smiling as Billy tried to dart around her and into the house. “Why don’t you invite him for lunch, dear?”

_Definitely going to kill them._

“Uh…” He glanced over his shoulder at Teddy, who gave him a halfhearted shrug in return. Apparently his eyes weren’t doing a good job of conveying ‘danger, danger, danger--psychoanalysis and food fights ahead’ since the blond offered his mom a big, warm grin.

“I don’t want to be a bother, ma’am.”

“Oh, no trouble at all. We always make lots,” Rebecca chimed, snatching the hood of Billy’s jacket and preventing his escape. He could see the twins hiding around the stairwell, giggling behind cupped hands and making kissy faces in his direction. The obscene hand gesture he shot towards them got him a cuff on the back of his head before his mom was ushering both young men inside.

_Definitely, **definitely** going to kill them._


	9. Dangerous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “We’re very sorry to bother you, ma’am,” he replied, feeling any confidence he’d had until this point starting to wane. “But would you happen to be Mrs. Shepherd?”
> 
> The emotions filtered across her features in a quick progression--confusion, anger, and an inkling of concern prior to shuddering back to a wary caution. “What’s he done now?”
> 
> “I’m sorry?” Kate asked, a frown rippling into place. 
> 
> “Well, it’s either Frank or Thomas you’re after and since you look more like cops than loan sharks, I’m gonna go with Thomas,” she replied, leaning to the side, presumably looking for their cruiser. “Unmarked vehicle, huh? Maybe you’re more than cops.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We have almost made it, my wonderful readers, and thank you so much for sticking with me. This chapter will be harsher than the others, please see the warnings at the end of my notes for more info. I will be posting chapter ten in about two weeks from now, and a “Christmas Special” side story will post on December 25th, for all you lovely people. That said, the epilogue (just a short ‘after the fact’ addition) will post on the weekend of January 9th, since I’m away for the holidays. And then A Double Life will be completed! What a crazy concept, it’s been such a journey for me.
> 
> This chapter was difficult for me to get through, and I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the amazing support of my beta-readers Kuchen and Melerune. You guys are seriously the best, and Melerune even antagonized me (read: reminded me) that I really do need to post because the weekend is nearly over!
> 
> [Please come visit me on tumblr! :)](http://amonaewrites.tumblr.com/) You can prompt me to write things, send me any questions you may have, or just share silly things with me (I love seeing you guys over there, I feel like I can interact on a more casual level).
> 
> Chapters will update on a regular basis, always the first weekend of every month. I have myself on a pretty strict writing schedule as part of my day-to-day, so the only time chapters will be late is if I’m ill or have other serious obligations.   
> **CHAPTER WARNINGS:** This chapter does contain some scenes that may cause discomfort for some readers. There is a scene involving anxiety attacks (if you would like to skip, the scene starts at “When they approached the mirrored hallway, Teddy felt a spark of unease” and ends at “They made their way to the door as the darkness surrounding them swallowed all trace of light beyond the red-orange glow of the exit sign.”). There are also several scenes involving physical violence, please send me a message/comment/tumblr ask if you would like a version of this chapter with those scenes removed.

**_“I can hear the sirens burning_ **

**_Red lights turning_ **

**_I can't turn back now_ **

**_So hold on tight.”_ **

_ Dangerous by David Guetta feat. Sam Martin _

 

 **BILLY:** _OMG I am SO sorry_

_I definitely didn’t mean for you to be forced into an episode of ‘Weirdest Family Drama’_

**TEDDY:** _It’s ok_

_I had fun_

_I like your family_

**BILLY:** _...whut_

_Okay, did they already brainwash you?_

_Or are you really that stepford-y?_

**TEDDY:** _Maybe a little of both?_

 **BILLY:** _Oh good, you’ll fit right in_

_Uh…_

_j/k, pretend I didn’t say that_

_u free any time soon?_

~~~~~~

“Fuck.” Kate was digging through a series of folders on the desk, toppling papers and files in her wake. She hissed another curse between her teeth while returning to the first stack. “Ted, I can’t find it.”

“Can’t find what?” he asked, hanging his coat and scarf while juggling the bag of pastries and pair of coffee cups in his arms.

“ _It_ ,” she growled, narrowing her eyes as if to try and get the point across.

“Ah,” _the Shepherd file._ “That’s okay. I mean, we didn’t need it, right?” _We made copies._

“No, I guess not,” she complained, typing a quick message on her phone prior to flashing the screen at him.

‘All copies are gone. At home too.’

“Shit,” he mumbled under his breath, setting their breakfast down on the desk and slumping into one of the chairs meant for clients. His shoulders heaved forward as he clutched at his knees, knuckles going pale. “ _Shit_.”

They sat in companionable silence, reluctant to speak aloud should someone be listening in. The fact that someone had broken into Kate’s apartment to steal their copies of the file was disturbing, to say the least. It made his blood run cold just thinking of it, but he sucked a deep breath in through his nose and forced himself to calm down. It would do them no good to hunt after whomever had taken them--that wasn’t the important part of all of this, and for all he knew, it was only a distraction to shuffle them off the trail. Moving on to the next step was their best bet, even if it _had_ been wrenched from beneath them.

Teddy was picking his way through a chocolate croissant when someone rapped on their office door, a sheaf of paper slipping underneath a moment later. He frowned and went to retrieve it--a postcard?--before returning to the desk, brows furrowing with each re-read of the single, scribbled line.

‘Meet me in the park. Billy S. 2:30.’

It was signed with a large ‘T,’ the top of the letter double-crossed in haste. Teddy showed the card to Kate, who read it and then snatched it from his hands before jamming it away into her purse. “So we’ll take a belated lunch today? Maybe hit up that place near the park I’ve heard so much about?”

“Yeah, sounds like a plan,” he replied, feeling a twist in his gut that sent tides of nausea through him. Suddenly the flaky treat and latte didn’t look so appealing. “Did we get the audit results yet?”

He knew they were supposed to come in at some point during the week, though with the holidays only a few days behind them he wasn’t sure if that would happen. The scrunched look of concern on his partner’s face told him another story. “That bad?”

“Well, yes and no,” she answered, sipping at her coffee casually before continuing. “We passed, so that part is good, but we didn’t do as well as we should have.”

“Of course we didn’t, not with only a few days’ notice and so many things being thrown at us from all angles!” Teddy steamed, feeling the anger rising off his shoulders in a heated surge.

“Ted,” she stated, her voice hard as she leveled a look in his direction. “The important thing is that we still have jobs. For now. Until Rick tears us a new one and you punch him out with your Hulk hands.”

“My what?” Teddy looked to where he was clutching at the arms of the chair, the frail wood splintering between jagged green claws. “Fuck. Sorry, I…”

“Are you okay?” Kate asked, coming around the edge of the desk and settling her hand on his shoulder as he willed his fingers back to normal. “Everything good between you and Billy?”

He nodded, focusing on his breathing and heart rate, trying to get his body to listen to him. Lately (and he assumed it was because of all the added stress), he had been losing control over himself more and more. It started out as little things--feeling his muscles bulk up if he was in a threatening situation, or his shoulders diminishing on a crowded train. “Yeah. Everything’s good,” he answered, once his hands had returned to a fleshy pink hue. “It’s really good, actually.”

“You talked?”

“Yeah. He came over for pie.” He frowned at the shattered remains of the chair’s arms--those were a lost cause. Explaining them would be interesting, to say the least.

“Good. I’m glad you guys are working it out.” Moving to the folders on the desk, Kate set about returning them to order, now that she had ruined all their organization. “Oh, and I think we’re almost back on track with all this excessive crap that was thrown at us. But I’m not sure what to do with this.” She held up the file in question, a huge, red ‘CLASSIFIED’ stamped across the front. Her brows were furrowed, though her voice hinted at intrigue. “I think we might have gotten it by accident?”

“Let me see,” he asked, extending his hand and taking the document when it was offered. Flipping through the pages, Teddy could feel the frown edging deeper and deeper lines between his brows. “What… is this?” None of the insignia or logos looked familiar and half of the pages were filled with nothing more than heavy black lines, all information blocked from sight.

“I don’t know.” Kate was sitting on the ruined arm of his chair, peering over the file with him. “It really doesn’t seem like something that would end up with NYPD at all, let alone show up in our department.”

“This is some secret service level stuff…” Teddy murmured, squinting at the grainy photo attached to a lengthy report about atmospheric disturbances. “Is that…”

“A body? Sure looks like it to me.”

“But it’s falling from… where?”

“Maybe a plane?” she quipped, narrowing her eyes at the image. “But no parachute.”

Teddy felt his stomach lurch and heave, riling with unease. Something about the blurry figure seemed off, strange given the context. He closed the file and put it aside. “Let’s… just leave it. Someone must have put it here by accident.”

“Sure.” Kate let it slide, though Teddy could see the urge to find out more, to pursue this case that wasn’t theirs to go after. Once her interest was piqued, it was hard to deter her from seeking more information, from attempting to go after a concept that may only be a ghost.

“Hey, one thing at a time, alright?” he prompted, watching her from beneath furrowed brows. “Let’s focus on getting through to lunch.” _And then we can find out what the hell is going on with Tommy._

“Yeah, of course. You’re right,” she mumbled as she went through the files again, her mind already somewhere else.

Teddy allowed the quiet to linger between them for a few extended moments until he spoke again, his voice cautious as he tiptoed around the subject he had been meaning to broach but didn’t know how to start. “So… how are things with you and Eli?”

“Ted.”

He heard the warning in her tone, ignoring it. “The last time you mentioned him it seemed… kind of strained?” Teddy put on his best worried/kicked puppy look and she eventually glanced up from her paperwork long enough to relent.

“Not everyone can have a relationship as weirdly perfect as you and your number-one-nerd,” she teased, offering a gentle smile that appeared at least moderately forced. “Anyway, don’t worry about that. We’ll either work it out or we won’t. Not a big deal.” Kate’s face shut down, her attention going back to removing the folders they had completed. “I’m taking these down to storage. You need anything down there?”

Though he didn’t feel good about letting the conversation drop so soon, he knew it wasn’t going to get him anywhere by pressing, especially if she was already making a hasty retreat. So he sighed and shook his head. “No, I’m good. Don’t get lost down there, I’ve heard it’s full of hobgoblins and trolls.”

“You’re just talking about the guys from forensics.”

“Oh, right. Well watch out for Frank,” he replied, his smile growing broader as she slipped into the hall. It fell from his face once the door was closed, a concerned frown replacing it.

_Damn it, Kate. Why won’t you talk to me about this?_

~~~~~~

The park was blustery as they made their way to the appointed meeting place. The wind was kicking up at random to flick his scarf between them, at least until Kate got fed up and shoved the ends into the ‘V’ of his jacket. When they arrived at the towering statue the only person loitering beneath was a young mother, tucking a fussing infant into another layer of blankets within the stroller. They annexed a bench nearby, sharing the bag of still-warm popcorn they’d picked up from a vendor along the way. It was brisk enough outside that not many people were milling about this long after the lunch-hour rush.

“He’s late,” Kate mumbled, checking her watch and glancing up and down the connecting paths. “That seems kind of odd for a speedster, doesn’t it?”

“Maybe he’s forgotten? Or had to change his route?” Teddy offered excuses even though he didn’t believe them, the uneasy quell in his stomach shifting and tumbling as each minute ticked by.

Eventually the mother and child passed them, flashing a tired and apologetic smile as she went, the infant asleep in the layers of fuzzy blankets.

“Should we just head back?” he asked, finishing the last of the popcorn and crumpling up the bag. He was tossing it into the refuse bin beside them when he caught Kate shifting ramrod straight to his left. “Kate?”

“The park is really quiet,” she whispered, eyes darting along the path again and her hand hovering over the piece at her side, hidden within the folds of her coat.

Teddy frowned. “Well, it’s not busy but it’s not like it’s… completely silent…” Even while he spoke, he started to notice it: there was no birdsong in the air, no echoes of chatter from the lake, a distinct lack of vehicles going too-fast down the roadway behind them. He could feel his own shoulders tense, the stillness unsettling.

They were both watching the winding path as the couple approached, so it only took a few moments for him to recognize the shaggy crewcut and loudly-patterned blazer as belonging to a Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd. The pair approached Teddy and Kate directly, not slowing, and the detectives both stood from their position on the bench, tension thick as a wire.

“Hello sir, ma’am,” Teddy spoke slowly, maintaining a flatness to his voice. He had to focus to stay the tremor that he felt running along his spine, to keep it out of his words.

Frank Shepherd smiled, though it was too wide and too sharp to be friendly. Toothy, shark-like. “Hello, detectives. It’s a lovely day for a stroll, isn’t it?”

“Yes, of course.” As Kate spoke, Teddy could hear the hard edge in her voice, her hand still tucked away inside her jacket. “Any luck with your son?”

“Oh, I’m afraid he’s still missing,” Mary chirped, voice sickly sweet and brittle. “But don’t you worry. We’ll find him.”

The way she said it made the blond feel sick.

“Though I’ve heard he’s been in contact with you,” she said, fixing Teddy with a leer that he felt to the marrow. “You wouldn’t happen to know where he’s been? What kind of… _friends_ he’s been hanging around?”

“No, ma’am,” he answered, stiff-backed and trying not to let his thundering heartbeat give him away. Both of them were making his skin crawl and every fiber of his being was preparing for fight or flight--he only just managed to keep himself still in his own skin. It wouldn’t benefit them to start a brawl with a middle-aged couple in Central Park. But Frank kept watching them with that jagged smile, hands folded neatly behind his back, while his wife bubbled away in a tone that was overflowing with sugar.

“Oh, what a shame,” she whispered, glancing to her husband with a pout. “I heard he was making new friends with a University student.”

_Billy._

“Yes, that was his name.” Mary turned to them, her grin bordering on maniacal. “Billy.”

Teddy felt all of the air leave his lungs at once and had to suppress a tremor that threatened to wreck him. His hands were clenching into fists, stretching long and green while he heard Kate click the safety off on her glock.

“How quaint. The girl really thinks a gun will help her.”

“Now Morgan, we got what we came for,” Frank murmured, stroking a hand through the wispy strands of her hair. “I believe we should go.”

“Of course, you’re right, Doctor. Another time, detectives.”

By the time he moved forward everything was spiralling about them in a whirl of color and sound, breezes cutting to the bone while a pack of teenagers whispered behind cupped hands. Kate quickly tucked away her gun while her eyes tracked the lines of movement around them, but there was no sign that the Shepherds had been there at all.

“I… Billy…” he hissed, feeling his gut lurch and heave, tasting the edge of bile on the back of his tongue. "Fuck."

Kate rubbed circles on the small of his back while he retched behind the bushes on the far side of the path, the park abuzz with activity that hadn’t been there moments before.

~~~~~~

Okay, so a few days with no reply--that wasn’t a big deal, right? Teddy was probably busy, the audit was supposed to come back soon and he was sure that the pair had their hands full trying to get a break on their ‘secret’ case along with the pile of things that kept getting thrown at them. So a few days was totally reasonable.

Not that Billy was checking his phone at twenty minute intervals.

In class.

With an anguished huff whenever there were no new messages.

“Mister Kaplan, perhaps you would be more comfortable checking your very important messages in the hallway?” Professor Richards intoned from the front of the room, giving Billy a level look over the top of his glasses.

Even though he knew that wasn’t his real face, not his _real_ real face, Billy couldn’t help but freeze up when he got hit with the disappointed laser-look. “Uh, no. Sorry. I’ll stop.”

“Right. Now, as I was saying, the late sixteenth century had some interesting developments in terms of…”

“Psst,” Cassie whispered at his side, elbowing him in the ribs for good measure. She motioned to her notebook where she had hastily scribbled a ‘u ok?’ in the margins. He waved her off with a shrug and a nod, and though she didn’t press the issue further for the time being, Billy was positive he hadn’t gotten off with such a weak response.

Sure enough, she cornered him in the hallway after class.

“What’s wrong?” Her hands were angled on her hips and she took up as much of the hall as possible, people having to squish themselves and their backpacks along the wall to get past. Eli stood a few paces behind her, offering a sympathetic look but not trying to deter the blonde in any way.

_Traitor._

“Nothing,” he replied, giving her his best smile even if he knew it fell short. Her face crumpled into a frown, lower lip jutting out--she looked about three seconds from chewing him out in the hallway.  “Okay, nothing major. I just haven’t heard from Teddy in a few days and I dunno… I’m paranoid I guess.”

“Did you call him?” Eli asked.

“Uh…”

“Damn it, Billy!” Cassie complained, grabbing his phone out of his hoodie pocket before he could usher forth much of a complaint. So he narrowed his glare at Eli instead.

“Sorry,” Eli responded, sounding not-at-all sorry. “But really, calling people is generally a better way to get a hold of them.”

Cassie handed back his phone after a few rings and Billy jammed it into his hoodie. “Well?”

“No answer.” She was frowning again, but this time at her own phone, scrolling through the contacts and dialing a number too fast for Billy to see who it was. The boys managed to shuffle Cassie off to the side of the hallway while she was listening to the phone ring, ring, ring, ring on the other end of the line. Eventually, it clicked over to an automated voicemail. When she hung up, there was a frustrated furrow growing between her brows. “Kate’s not answering either.”

Billy felt his heart sink fast. What if something happened? What if they were hurt? Or…

_Teddy._

His skin was itchy, anxiety bristling beneath the surface, his mind whirring at a million miles an hour. Billy nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder. 

“Hey, they’re probably just busy, phones off and stuff,” Eli insisted, glancing quickly between his two friends and heaving a sigh. “But we can swing by the precinct later if you really want…”

“Yeah, that might be a good idea…” Billy murmured, glancing to the blonde who was still pouring through the messages in her phone. “Cassie? You want to come with?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I mean, they won’t let us in, but we can at least ask to see them if they're at work. Usually they’d page or something,” she replied, staring pointedly at her conversation history.

Eli raised his brows at the pair of them, concern etched across his features, though he quickly dampened his gaze to something akin to disapproval. “Right. Well if we’re using a good chunk of the afternoon on that, can we please go study? You two do remember that exams are still a thing right?”

Billy groaned, shuffling his backpack over a shoulder and prodding Cassie in her sides. “Yeah, we better do what he says. Or he’s going to lurk in our bedrooms after dark and whisper theories and hypotheses to us while we sleep.”

Cassie shrieked in mock-fear, a grin cascading over her face (even if Billy could tell it was about ninety percent bullshit, but it was the thought that counts). “Whatever will we do!”

“Morons…” Eli grumbled under his breath, no real bite to his words as he shook his head and stepped away. The eyeroll that followed was nearly audible. Billy gave Cassie another gentle shove and an even gentler smile, trying to convey camaraderie even if all he felt was unease.

~~~~~~

They didn’t go back to the office that afternoon.

Or the next.

While there were only so many sick days in a year, Teddy and Kate were quickly ploughing through the entirety of theirs without the slightest inkling of concern for their job security. It had been all he could do to keep from requesting a police-enforced protection for a one William Kaplan; Kate needed to talk him down from that one for at least two hours (after he had ruined a perfectly good park bush with what used to be popcorn). He knew it all made sense; even if it was Billy that the odd pair were after, they wouldn’t try to go after him while he was surrounded by people--and at school, he was nearly always with others. The only time he happened to be relatively alone or unprotected was when the couple were spending time together and Teddy was becoming less and less sure that he could make good on his promise to protect the young man.

They had set up shop in Teddy’s small apartment, after Kate’s was compromised; neither of them had felt comfortable speaking about the case where all the information they had on it was ripped from beneath them. Although his apartment lacked her technology and high-speed internet connection, they made do with heaping mounds of pastries from the bakery down the street and countless mugs of tea scattered between all the paperwork spread out on every available surface. Kate had insisted he switch from coffee to tea when he started getting antsy for action after the fourth helping.

“What do we do?” he intoned for what was probably the millionth time, hands wrapped wearily about a mug of chamomile tea.

Kate was tapping an irregular rhythm on the kitchen counter with her nails, as visibly on-edge as Teddy felt. “I don’t know. We’re obviously not dealing with some run-of-the-mill case here. Either they can read minds or have some other sort of inhuman power. Regardless, we’re not going to be able to deal with them on our own, and the rest of the force wouldn’t believe us if we even tried to explain.”

“Unless…” Teddy mumbled, staring hard into the murky depths of his beverage. “Unless we had proof that this case wasn’t even started by the Shepherds.”

“What?” She was frowning at him, brows creased and centralized around a scowl. “How are we--oh. _Oh_. Assuming your little snitch is right, his parents never even filed a missing person’s claim.”

“So his real parents wouldn’t have any knowledge that any of this was happening. If, you know, if they aren’t actually involved.” Glaring at his tea wasn’t getting him anywhere so he risked a glance across the counter to his partner. “What do you think?”

“I think it’s better than lurking in your apartment waiting for something horrible to happen,” she answered, standing in a hurry and sending her stool across the floor with a resounding _scrape_. “Come on. I have their address memorized still, I think.”

“You’re the best.”

“I know.”

~~~~~~

The Shepherd residence lay on the outskirts of Hillside, barely an hour’s drive from Teddy’s home. All of the houses along the street had the same shape and general architecture, though some were more run-down than others. Number 506 was no exception--the paint surrounding the windows was bubbling and peeling, the roof was in desperate need of repair, and the siding had several small holes cascading through the east wall. Teddy didn’t want to think about what might have been the cause of said holes, so instead he focused on ringing the doorbell and waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting.

Waiting.

“Maybe they aren’t home?” he offered, turning to Kate who was crouched down and inspecting the push-button for the bell.

“Yeah, maybe…” she mumbled, yanking the entire front cover from the siding.

“Kate!” He was half-expecting someone to come barrelling around the side of the house and start screeching at them. Instead, he watched as Kate held up the cover, frazzled ends of wires and tangles of cables attached to a whole lot of nothing. The plastic casing that should have protected the wires was all but gone, only a few flaky bits remaining here and there.

“Or they have mice,” she answered simply, shifting her dark hair over her shoulder and out of the way as she replaced the ruined panel.

“Right.” Teddy shook his head prior to opening the screen door, rapping a few times on the weathered wood. It took almost no time at all for the wail of an infant to greet them. He winced and looked to Kate as they heard the voice of someone inside, quickly approaching. She shrugged.

The door was ripped open, a woman balancing the fussing baby on her hip while she narrowed her weary gaze at the pair before her. “This had better be important, I spent the best part of the morning getting this little brat to go down for a nap. Now he’s gonna be up all day and most of the night.”

“We’re very sorry to bother you, ma’am,” he replied, feeling any confidence he’d had until this point starting to wane. “But would you happen to be Mrs. Shepherd?”

The emotions filtered across her features in a quick progression--confusion, anger, and an inkling of concern prior to shuddering back to a wary caution. “What’s he done now?”

“I’m sorry?” Kate asked, a frown rippling into place.

“Well, it’s either Frank or Thomas you’re after and since you look more like cops than loan sharks, I’m gonna go with Thomas,” she replied, leaning to the side, presumably looking for their cruiser. “Unmarked vehicle, huh? Maybe you’re more than cops.”

“We’re with the investigative division, ma’am,” Teddy clarified before things got out of hand in a hurry. “And we just wanted to ask you a few questions about your son.”

She shifted the baby to her opposite hip, his fussing dwindled to nothing more than a quiet whimper with each bounce of her leg. “Not much to tell. Adopted him when he was no older than this one here, he caused nothing but trouble from the get-go, but Frank and I… we weren’t really ready for a kid like him, ya’know? He was always a little… _different_.”

_That’s a really nice way to put ‘he was a tiny hellion from the start.’_

Teddy scruffed a hand along the back of his neck, trying to figure out how they were supposed to use this conversation to help them prove their case. He was beginning to realize he didn’t think this idea through before they came rallying all the way out here. None of it would hold up in court, but maybe it would give them a leg to stand on where the precinct was concerned. At the very least, it might get Rick off their backs. “Have you had any contact with him recently, ma’am?”

“Not since… well, he called a few days before Thanksgiving, actually. Sounded a bit rough, but I figured he wasn’t in too much of a mess. Honestly, he’s a pretty good kid. Doesn’t go asking for money or nothing like that, not that I would have anything to give him. He’s just… he’s a magnet for all the bad shit.”

“That’s one way to put it,” Kate answered, the edge of a smile brushing over her lips. “Did he say anything about where he was staying? Maybe if he was caught up in something?”

She shook her head. “No, not really. I mean, he’s been in New York for a while, but I assumed he was couch-surfing or whatever. He’s a bit of a wandering soul, that one. Can’t keep him still any more now than I could when he was little. Why? Is he in some kind of trouble?”

Teddy frowned. “We think so. Someone might be after him, though we’re not really sure who or for what purpose yet. Do you know where your husband is? He might be able to give us some more information about--”

“--ex-husband,” she retorted quickly. “And no, I don’t know where Frank is. We aren’t really on good terms, and if it were up to him all our money would have gone to the casinos. I don’t think him and Thomas ever really got along before, let alone now.”

“Oh.”

_Shit. This is getting us nowhere, fast._

“Ms. Shepherd,” Kate started, her brows furrowed slightly. “We spoke with a couple that appear to look an awful lot like you and your husband. They were looking for your son, supposedly filed a report that he was ‘missing’ and everything. You don’t happen to know anything about that, do you?”

Ms. Shepherd looked confused. Her eyes, a deep mossy green, were filled with more concern than Teddy had seen in the faux-Shepherds’ eyes the whole time they spoke.

“I… He’s really in danger, isn’t he?”

“We’re not sure yet, ma’am,” Teddy replied, clenching his hands into fists within the depths of his pockets. There was a slight chill in the breeze, and though it normally wouldn’t have bothered him, today it was cutting him straight to the bone.

“If you were to testify in court, stating that you never filed this claim, that you never spoke with us before today, we might be able to find a way to arrest these imposters who are endangering your son.” Kate’s voice was clear, precise, and succinct. Teddy was grateful for it, though he didn’t know what good a court case would do against these… _people_.

Ms. Shepherd seemed just as uneasy about the idea, shuffling from side to side and glancing down at the babe suckling a wet spot onto the hem of her shirt. “I… I really don’t know. I can’t drop everything to leave and go to some big court case in New York, I got responsibilities here. But… can I ask you a favor?” she asked and Teddy was positive he could see a dampness around the corners of her eyes. “If… if you see him, if you see Thomas or if he contacts you, can you let him know that he can come back here if he needs to. I don’t know if I can, but I’ll at least try to keep him safe.”

“I’ll be sure to tell him, ma’am.” Teddy felt Kate’s hand on his arm, motioning that they should leave. He looked to the baby falling asleep in his mother’s arms and nodded. “Right, well. Thanks, Ms. Shepherd. We’ll be sure to get in touch with you if we hear anything more, or if Thomas contacts us.”

“Thank you,” she whispered, her voice thin and reedy before she slipped into the house, door closing with a near-silent ‘click.’

Teddy and Kate made their way back to the car, waiting until they were buckled and on their way home prior to speaking again.

“Well,” Kate murmured, frown creasing the skin between her brows. “That was… interesting.”

“If that’s really his mother, who the hell are the people we’ve been talking to?” Teddy growled, ignoring the twisting dread in the pit of his stomach in favor of watching the world speed by outside the window.

“Who knows. I mean, they look similar, that’s for sure. But did you notice something, Ted?”

“Huh?”

“Her eyes. The real Ms. Shepherd. Her eyes are different.”

Teddy thought back to the piercing gaze he felt in the park, that bright spark of green fire that curled at his throat before strangling all breath from him. “Yeah. They’re wrong.”

“So, at least we know. Not sure what good it will do us, or if anyone at the department will even believe us, but at least we have that item crossed off our checklist--they’re not his real parents.”

Teddy watched as her hands clenched the steering wheel, knuckles turning pale white against the black leather.

“We need to find out who the fuck they are, and why they came to us in the first place,” she hissed, glancing at him across the center console. “Why go through the police to find someone if you’re not who you say you are? Why risk it?”

“Yeah. We’ll… we’ll find out, somehow.” He offered a weak smile he didn’t really feel, his stomach still roiling with unease. The cityscape bustled around them into something more familiar, but Teddy didn’t see any of it, his mind jumping between all of their data points and trying desperately to find some sort of a connection. Some thread linking it all together that would make the picture clearer.

~~~~~~

“Okay, so depending on who’s at the desk, we might be really lucky or they might tell us to get lost,” Cassie murmured as the trio gathered outside the precinct, Billy huddled deep into the folds of his scarf, Eli looking relatively uneasy to be anywhere near the station he’d been a visitor of only a few weeks prior.

“And if they don’t let us in, or tell us to leave, we leave? No stupid moves,” Eli replied, turning his eyes on Billy with a glare hinging on his final word.

“Hey, why do you have to look at me? Cassie is just as capable of stupid moves!” he insisted, jutting out his lower lip and motioning to the blonde.

Eli rolled his eyes. “She’s a girl. They’d let her off easy, for sure. You try something, or sass the wrong person, you’re probably looking at a night in the holding cell.”

“Nah, he wouldn’t be in there long,” Cassie teased, a lilting joy in her tone. “His _boyfriend_ would definitely bail him out.” She laughed and nudged Billy along to the door as Eli trailed behind them, her grin bright enough to hinder some of his dour mood.

“Har de har. Let’s just hope he’s there so he can bail me out when I inevitably get my butt into jail. Probably because of you, I might add!”

They quieted somewhat while approaching the front desk, and a bubbly young woman grinned up at them from behind the plate-glass window. “Hi there! What can I do for ya today?”

_Wow, I didn’t realize people could actually be this perky at **work**._

“Uh… we’re actually wondering if you could page someone for us?” Billy asked, fidgeting and looking horribly uncomfortable while he tried to talk his way through his unease.

She gave him a skeptical look, brows raised and her bubbly demeanor quickly replaced by a cautious one. “Oh? And why should I do that?”

“They’re friends of ours. Kate Bishop and Ted Altman. We haven’t heard from them in a few days, so we’re getting a little worried… You know how it is,” Cassie answered, smiling kindly and receiving a sympathetic one in return. “I know they’re probably just busy, my step-dad gets like that all the time, but if you could even check if they’ve been coming to work that would be awesome.”

“Oh! You’re Blake’s kid, right?” She beamed. “I think I’ve seen you around before at some of the company events.”

“Probably, I know we go to the Christmas thing every year,” Cassie chirped back. “So can you let us know if they’ve been in? My friend here is a real worry-wart.” She pointed at Billy over her shoulder.

“Hey!”

“Sure, just give me a sec to check the system… yeah. They were here this morning, but I think they’re out now. They’ve kind of been in and out for the last week or so, more out than in by the looks of it. Did you want me to leave them a message or anything?”

Billy was shaking his head feverently when Cassie glanced over her shoulder at him. “No, we should be okay. Like I said, worrying for nothing. Maybe try to tell them to stop working so hard all the time?”

The young woman behind the counter laughed, flashing them a dazzling smile. “Yeah, I can do that. Next time I see ‘em, I’ll be sure to let them know.”

“Thanks!”

“Thank you for your help,” Eli added, hauling his friends from the station and down the stone steps outside. He heaved an uneasy sigh the second they were clear of the doors. “See? You guys were freaking out about nothing.”

“Like you weren’t the teensiest bit worried about your _girlfriend_ ,” Cassie teased.

The hint of a flush stained Eli’s cheeks. “It’s not… we’re not really…”

He didn’t get to finish his sentence as a bustle of voices arguing barreled around a corner, nearly colliding with the trio while they loitered by the station steps.

“Billy?”

He glanced up to meet confused blue eyes before a relieved grin flashed across his face. “Hey Teddy.”

“What are you guys doing here?” Kate asked, brow raised while she poignantly ignored Eli’s presence. “Someone giving you trouble or something?”

“No, nothing like that,” Cassie replied, chuckling. “We got a little worried since we hadn’t heard from you in, well, a couple days. I guess that seems a little silly?”

Billy could feel the tension draining from him just being close to Teddy’s side again, knowing he was okay, knowing this wasn’t something they couldn’t work around. He berated himself silently for getting so worked up about it in the first place.

“Sorry, we’ve been… busy,” the blond offered, a sheepish smile on his face.

Kate made for the station doors, looking over her shoulder at the others. “Teddy, why don’t you walk these guys home? I’m going to grab a few files from upstairs and call it a day.”

“Sure.” And then Teddy’s arm was around his shoulders, warm and heavy and reminding him that this was real, they were real, and they were okay. Billy leaned into the touch and let his nerves settle.

Everything was perfect.

~~~~~~

Teddy felt his stomach drop when he saw the group by the precinct. His first instinct was to jump to the conclusion that something horrible had happened. But nothing was wrong and his mind was getting carried away from him as it seemed to be doing more and more often, especially where Billy’s safety was concerned.

They parted ways with Eli and Cassie at the subway station, both students heading to apartments in other areas of the city, so soon it was just the two of them. Teddy took advantage of the privacy, dropping his hand from the other’s shoulders to wrap between lithe fingers instead. “You doing okay? You’re pretty quiet. I mean, quiet for you,” he teased.

“Jerk,” Billy chortled back, popping up on his toes to press a quick kiss to Teddy’s cheek. “I was worried about you and all you can say is how quiet I am?”

“Got you talking, didn’t it?” he answered, noting the way his cheeks heated from the touch of his boyfriend’s lips. He swore he could still feel the phantom sensation. “Are you up for grabbing dinner later?”

He watched Billy’s face falter and the other hissed through his teeth. “I… I can’t. I really hate having to say that, but I kind of got an extension on an extension and I really have to get this paper done. Rain check?”

Teddy wasn’t sure how he was supposed to say ‘no’ when Billy was watching him with such an epic pout, bottom lip jettisoned outwards and his brows peaking towards his forehead. “You bet,” he chuckled, jostling their shoulders as they approached the dorm. He made to release Billy’s hand but the other held tight. “Billy?”

“If you wanted, I mean it’s not like it’s great food or anything, but we could grab a bite here? Before you go and I get lost in my horrible essay?” There was caution in Billy’s voice, like he was unsure if Teddy would agree. It made guilt well up inside of him, knowing he put that unease there.

He smiled and ruffled his digits among dark strands. “Yeah, that sounds great.” He leaned close, pecking a quick kiss to the corner of Billy’s lips. “I missed you too.”

A startled flush filled pale cheeks as Billy dragged him into the lounge area, beelining for the set of mailboxes along the far wall. “Just gotta check the mail…” he muttered, keeping his eyes distinctly off the detective. Teddy chuckled as the other sorted through stacks upon stacks of junk mail until he came across an envelope with nothing on it. “Huh, that’s weird.”

Teddy frowned, snagging the envelope before Billy could even open it, ignoring the startled ‘hey’ and running his nail along the edges. Deeming it acceptably safe, he handed it back. “Probably more junk. But definitely maybe not anthrax.”

“Maybe it’s a ransom note for my non-paranoid boyfriend,” he teased, rolling his eyes at Teddy and tearing into the envelope. “Oh! Sweet!”

Billy grinned broadly as he showed Teddy the six heavy pieces of paper, bright wheels of color decorating their edges. “Carnival tickets!” he said in answer to the questioning look on Teddy’s face. “There’s this sweet winter carnival outside of town, happens every year but I’ve never managed to get tickets before. Called into every stupid radio contest out there, I must have finally won one of them.”

Teddy kept his concerns to himself, not wanting to dampen the jubilation he saw on the other’s face. Instead he grinned, leaning close and glancing over Billy’s shoulder, his cheek close enough to feel the heat rising from the student’s blush. “So, who are you taking on your carnival date?”

“Well, I thought I’d take Cassie, maybe see if Eli wants to come… I guess that means Kate would come along and Cassie will probably bring someone so…” he glanced sidelong at Teddy, who was doing his best not to visibly display his disappointment. “Oh, and I guess you can come to, if you’re free.”

“You’re so kind,” Teddy huffed, rifling his fingers through Billy’s hair. “Now, I heard you were treating me to dinner?”

“Not sure where you heard that,” came the sing-song reply as he was dragged unceremoniously by his elbow to the cafeteria.

~~~~~~

The weeks leading up to Christmas rolled by much faster than Teddy had expected. With Billy drowning in schoolwork, the Shepherd case hitting a series of dead ends, and the precinct reaching a peak workload prior to simmering to something manageable, Teddy found himself actually catching up prior to the holidays. Things around the office had slowed right down, where the only employees coming in on a regular basis were himself and Kate; he couldn’t recall the last time he saw Rick lingering outside their door, giving them the stink eye.

Kate was glowering at something on the computer screen, looking back and forth between a file and the digital variance. Over the last few days, Teddy had noticed she seemed more on edge, a little sharper than normal even when it was just the two of them. He suspected it had something to do with the bumps in her relationship with Eli, and as much as he didn’t want to pry, it was starting to bother him. There was only so long he could leave something to fester before he felt the urgent need to intervene. “Kate, you can go early if you want.”

“Mmh…” Kate answered noncommittally, her gaze still locked onto the information in front of her.

“There’s a spider under your chair,” he added flatly, setting down the box he had been sorting through and approaching the desk.

“Mmhmm…”

“I heard that there’s a fire downstairs. Did you want to go check it out?”

“Hmm… What?” she asked, snapping her attention away from the document momentarily to narrow her eyes at him. “You’re full of it.”

“Well yeah, but I wanted to see if you were paying attention,” he said, settling a hip onto the edge of the desk and folding his arms. “So, you want to take off early? I can hold down the fort here, you deserve some time off.”

Kate looked like she was debating it for a moment, her thought processes flickering quickly across her features before she shook her head. “No, thanks Ted, but I’m good here. You can go early if you want. I’m sure Billy would be glad to see you.”

“Pretty sure he’s still stuck in studying hell with Cassie and Eli.” He noted the subtle flinch at the mention of her boyfriend’s name. “Something happen between you two?”

“Me and Cassie? No, we’re happy as clams.”

“Kate.” His voice was flat, level with the intensity of his narrowed gaze. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing. Well, nothing serious anyway. We’re just… in a rough patch, I guess?” she offered, closing the file to glance over at him and hold his gaze, stubborn. “Why are you so interested?”

Teddy lifted a shoulder in a gentle shrug. “I’m worried about you. You seem stressed out. I’m allowed to worry about my friend, right?”

“You worry too much,” she answered, her voice softening as she stood from the oversized chair. “Tell you what, we both bail on this popsicle stand, grab some pizza from that greasy place on third, and I’ll cry about all my problems over pepperoni and tomato sauce.”

He gave her a look, brow raised in question.

“Okay, so not exactly like that but pizza is definitely happening.” Snagging her coat from the back of the chair, she nudged at his shoulder with a fist. “Come on. We _both_ deserve a break. Plus, everyone is going out to that festival thing tomorrow so we’d better be well rested.”

“Right,” he replied with a roll of his eyes, though the smile blooming across his face was fond. Maybe she’d talk about whatever was going on between herself and Eli, maybe she wouldn’t, but at least they were veering closer to that goal. And pizza was a nice consolation prize.

~~~~~~

“Holy crap is that a ferris wheel?!”

Teddy was laughing at him. Okay, probably not _at him_ at him, but still laughing. Folding his arms and huffing a distinct pout, Billy pointed towards the glistening spokes. “I want to go on that.”

“Okay, okay. We will. No big rush, right?”

He may or may not have been executing a fairly brutal attempt at puppy dog eyes.

The blond smiled and offered his elbow with only the slightest hint of exasperation. “Shall we?”

“Who says chivalry is dead?” Billy retorted, chuckling as he looped his arm through the crook of Teddy’s, snuggling up against his side.

The fairgrounds were already teeming with people, groups of students or couples paired off among booths and amid crowds. Clusters of people gathered at the base of each ride, the line for the ferris wheel looking particularly long even as Billy and Teddy approached it. So they detoured, grabbing a bag of cotton candy and a few paper cups of cocoa prior to bearing the long, cold line.

“Hey, so, uh… what are your plans for school next year?”

Billy blinked at him, the question coming pretty much out of the blue. He swallowed a sip of hot chocolate around the sticky-sweet chunk of cotton candy he’d jammed in his mouth. “Uh… probably the same as this year, maybe with less procrastination. Why?”

He watched as Teddy’s cheeks flushed a gentle shade of pink before the blond shook his head. “No reason. Just wondering if maybe you and Cassie and Eli were going to rent a house or something.”

“Oh, nah. Cassie has her apartment and Eli still lives with his grandparents, I don’t think he wants to leave them on their own. I’ll probably stick with residence again, since an apartment is kind of expensive and…” _Oh. Oh my god. Is he…?_

Teddy was blushing heavily, looking anywhere but at Billy, his hands curled about the paper cup between them.

“Teddy, are you asking me to move in with you?” he asked, eyes wide and brows halfway up his brow. Neither of the two noticed that the line had started moving again until the couple behind them cleared their throats, gesturing impatiently at the gap. The conversation was stilted as they were hustled along, moving quickly to the front and into one of the rickety cars.

Once the door was shut, and they were finally alone in the swaying seats, Teddy spoke. “I… no? I mean, if it’s not something you want. I just… it might be… nice?” he offered, glancing across the thin space between them.

It was at that point that Billy realized he’d been holding his breath. He let it all out in a quick gust of words. “Are you sure? I mean, I’m a really shitty roommate. So I’ve been told. Countless times. By my parents.”

_Wow, if that wasn’t the lamest thing that has ever crawled out of my mouth I swear to God…_

But Teddy was laughing, his posture relaxing as their small cart travelled higher around the ring, afternoon light filtering through the dusty plexiglass. He was scrubbing his hand along the back of his neck, a motion Billy noticed he usually only did when he was nervous or at odds with himself. “I’m sure. I’ve been thinking about it for a while and I… I mean, it’s probably too soon, but if you don’t have plans for next year, when your residence contract is up, I’d love it if you might consider--”

Billy didn’t allow any time for considerations, launching himself across the short space between them and winding his arms tight around Teddy’s neck. Their empty paper cups clattered to the floor of the cart as it swung wildly from the motion. He vaguely heard Teddy murmuring something against his neck but the blood was rushing hard through his ears and he couldn’t make out the words. Pulling away just enough to still his racing heartbeat, Billy leaned his forehead against the detective’s and beamed. “Consider it considered. Yes.”

“Are you sure?” Teddy asked, his blue eyes questioning yet filled with so much hope and adoration that Billy had to stifle the shudder he felt thundering up his spine.

“I’m sure. I love you.”

“Love you too.”

Their lips met in a gentle connection as their car reached the peak of the ferris wheel, the sight completely ignored in favor of each other’s company. Billy clutched at the lapels of Teddy’s jacket, hauling him closer when the motion of the car set him off-balance. His blood sang as he pressed against the other, feeling all the heat captured between their bodies, despite the layers of clothing in the way. When their car neared the bottom of the wheel, Billy pulled back a fraction to catch his breath, mouth slanted in a lopsided grin. He was positive he looked like an idiot, he felt like he was about ready to crawl out of his own skin from excitement, but Teddy returned the smile with one of his own and nothing else mattered.

~~~~~~

After they arrived and met up with the rest of the group, the others split off into pairs fairly quickly--Cassie jogged off to meet up with her mystery date, Billy hauled Teddy towards the ferris wheel, and that left Eli and Kate shuffling awkwardly by the hood of her car.

“So,” Kate murmured, locking up and leaning against the driver’s door.

“So,” came Eli’s grunted reply.

Heaving a sigh, she snarled a hand through her dark hair. “Okay, look. We might as well make the best of this. I still haven’t told Ted that we aren’t really… seeing each other anymore.”

He raised a brow at her, skeptical.

“What? I haven’t, and I bet you haven’t told Cassie or Billy either from the way they darted off without you.” Her voice was more of a growl than she intended and it took several seconds of deep breathing to will herself back to a level of relative calm.

He looked like he was about to argue it, though his mouth snapped shut just as quickly as he’d opened it. “Yeah, okay. I guess… sure. We can go do the bumper cars or something.”

“You sure you want to get your ass handed to you so early in the evening?” she asked, a slight smirk lilting the corner of her mouth upwards.

“Who says I’m going to let you win this time, huh?”

“Oh, so you were _letting_ me win all those other times I kicked your ass?”

“Obviously.”

“Obviously.” Kate rolled her eyes and followed him towards the crowds. Her mind stuttered over a flash of white hair among the milling groups, though the second she looked for someone resembling Thomas, whoever it was had come and gone. She didn’t realize her legs had completely stopped moving, leaving herself standing stock-still among the surging crowd, until Eli was at her side with his hand resting gingerly at her elbow.

“Are you okay?” He was frowning, that look he got when he was not only worried for a person’s well-being, but also concerned about making a scene. While they had been dating regularly, Kate found that he cared too much about what others might say, what they might think about him behind his back. It was stressful to be so on edge, unable to enjoy things without overthinking every little consequence that might be behind them. In the end, it was better for them to be friends. The choice had been freeing, for the both of them.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she whispered, shucking off his hand and pointing towards one of the many games booths. “Let’s make this fun. I bet I can win twice as many shitty carnival prizes as you can.”

“You’re so on, Bishop.”

“Bring it, Bradley.”

~~~~~~

“Jonas?”

_Oh dear. She seems awfully upset, though only a moment ago she was laughing. Did I say something that came across wrong?_

“Yes, Cassandra?”

“I told you to call me Cassie.”

 _Right, she doesn’t care for Cassandra. Such a lovely name, I can’t imagine why not._ “Sorry, Cassie. What is it?”

“Are you having a good time?”

“Of course. I am finding this afternoon most… enjoyable.”

_Not the right word. She’s unhappy with my phrasing, and she also appears to be blushing. I do not believe anything I have said would be considered embarrassing, though perhaps I have touched a nerve?_

“Do you, um… Did you want to play some games?”

_Oh, this is familiar. In my research, it often happened that the male companion would win for the female a stuffed creature from one of these booths by besting the crooked games. In doing so, he would win affection from his lady._

“That sounds wonderful. Is there something that caught your eye?”

_She has taken my arm when it was offered, so she cannot be too upset with me._

“Yeah… Is that okay?” _Her face is even redder now and she appears interested in… an enormous bear?_

“I will do my best.”

_This game is simple. I should be able to best it shortly, the bottles do not appear to be ‘rigged’ as it were. Cassandra is close to my side, closer than she has been previously. I believe my pulse is elevated. JARVIS, should this be cause for alarm?_

**_No, sir. I believe you are perfectly within normal parameters._ **

_Thank you. Would you perchance be able to help me with the trajectory?_

**_I’m afraid that would be cheating, sir._ **

_Ah, of course. I’m sure I will do just fine._

_**Best of luck, sir.** _

_Thank you, JARVIS._

~~~~~~

Most of the ferris wheel rotations had gone by in a blur, Teddy’s mind more on the fact that Billy wanted to _move in with him_ than anything else. When the idea had filtered to his lips, unhindered by the screaming warnings of his brain, he was sure that the other would say no. Not that he could blame him--it was too soon, too crazy, too good to be a reality.

But he said yes.

_Come April, Billy might be living with me. **Will** be living with me._

Teddy was pretty sure that the stupid grin wasn’t going to be leaving his face any time soon.

The pair lingered among a few of the booths, snacking on churros and soft pretzels while they playfully argued the merits of this ride versus that until they settled on walking through the ‘fun house’ along the far edge of the park. Billy had been drawn to it by the large, cartoonish version of “Sergeant USA” along the front (a blatant copyright issue, though they both laughed at the attempt). The line was shorter here, which was a bonus, as the interior of the building was heated and it gave them a few moments to wander slowly among the dim lighting, hands linked instead of jammed into pockets.

When they approached the mirrored hallway, Teddy felt a spark of unease--it was too similar to the events of Halloween, enough to send a chill down his spine. Billy made note of something at the end of the hall, pointing towards it and speaking quickly, but it was lost in the sound of blood rushing through Teddy’s ears. Whatever this was, whatever was causing this roiling concern in his gut, it wasn’t going away. It was getting worse.

Billy was talking to him again, pulling him aside so another group could get around them, and Teddy had to force his mind back to the present, had to stall the milling thoughts reaching from the dark corners of his mind. “Sorry, I don’t know what happened there…” he whispered, still feeling the sharp sting of warning echoing from inside his chest.

“Looks like it’s a quick way out up there, you sure you’re going to be okay? You look kind of pale.” The student’s face was scrunched with concern, his hands resting lightly atop Teddy’s shoulders. He took a few moments, head settled between his knees while he crouched off to the side of the hallway. Inhale, exhale. Inhale, exhale. Deep breaths in through his nose and out through his parted lips, trying to keep himself from shivering.

“No, yeah. I’m fine. Let’s go.” He did his best to put a smile on his face but knew it wasn’t fooling Billy. Not when he didn’t even feel enough conviction in it himself. To his recollection, he had never experienced any form of claustrophobia before, but Teddy couldn’t help the anxiety that rushed under his skin, the feeling of the walls leaning in on them. There was a split in the path at the end of the mirrored hall, one way illuminated by a large ‘EXIT’ sign and blocked by a length of ratty cord.

“Let’s go this way,” Billy insisted, climbing over the flimsy blockade and pointing toward the sign. “We can probably get out the back that way and you can get some air.”

He was still watching him with that gentle worry, and Teddy felt horrible for making everything take such a derailing detour. “Sorry. Yeah, that might be good.”

They made their way to the door as the darkness surrounding them swallowed all trace of light beyond the red-orange glow of the exit sign. Teddy fumbled for Billy’s hand in the blackness, but he only came up empty.

“Billy?” he called, listening to his own voice echo around him. “Billy? Where are you?”

There was no answer, and Teddy could hear the panic rising in his tone as he continued to call out. The exit door was suddenly before him and he shouldered it open, bursting into the night air and shielding his eyes against the brightness of the security light. He stumbled down the few short steps behind the building, listening to the door behind him slam shut and the ‘click’ of an automatic lock sliding into place. “Shit.”

He tried the door, to no avail no matter how hard he pulled. Billy was nowhere within immediate sight outside, and he couldn’t imagine that the other would have wandered off when they were separated.

“Shit, shit, shit…” he snarled, debating on going to the front of the line again and starting through the building from scratch. But even if Billy had gotten turned around when they were separated, he would come out eventually, right? Someone would find him and lead him to an exit, so the panic was completely unnecessary. Even if he told himself this, the uneasy build in his thrumming veins continued to amp upwards, his pulse thundering loud and hard in his ears.

“Where’s Billy?”

Teddy turned, seeing the narrowed gaze and hard frown prior to registering the owner of them. “Tommy.”

“Yeah, I’m Tommy, good to see you remember. Where the fuck is he?”

If Tommy was here that meant nothing but bad news, more so since it looked like the young man hadn’t slept in days, with deep purple circles hollowing the space beneath his eyes. He looked even scruffier than the last time Teddy had seen him, if that was even possible. At least it appeared as though he’d gotten new shoes.

“We got separated. I was just going to go back around and see if I could--”

“ **FUCK**.”

Before he realized what was happening, Tommy was up in his face, hands fisted in the lapels of his winter jacket as he shoved Teddy’s broad back against the brick. Teddy couldn’t help the bristle of anger that was arching up his spine but he did manage to stifle the urge to retaliate with force in favor of responding cooly.

“What’s going on? Why are you here?”

“You **_told_ ** them,” Tommy snarled, his teeth bared and gnashing between each hissed sentence. “You fucking told them about him, about his powers! They _know_.”

Teddy’s shoulders stiffened. “I didn’t _tell_ them anything,” he replied defensively. “I don’t know how they knew, but they _knew_ his name just from me thinking it. I never said it to them, I would never put him in danger like that!”

“Well he’s in danger now. They’re here.”

“ _What?!_ Why wouldn’t you come find me sooner? Why wouldn’t you try to warn us!”

“I’m **fast** , not a fucking mind reader!” Tommy shouted, jamming his fists hard against Teddy’s chest before pulling away and pacing back and forth, wearing a thin track in the dirt. “I didn’t find out what they were planning until two goddamn hours ago when I saw you lot leave town!”

“We have to go find him,” Teddy whispered, his stomach dropping rapidly, his throat constricting _tight_ at the thought that Billy might already be in danger, might already be…

There was an echo of screams flowing over the top of the building, alongside the sound of people running and something that sounded an awful lot like what could be considered ‘villainous laughter.’ Tommy stopped his pacing and turned to the blond with a quirk of his lips.

“Looks like someone got the party started without us.”

~~~~~~

It was complete and utter chaos. People were stampeding away from the entrance to the fun house, pushing and shoving and trampling each other in the process. Teddy could barely make out the twist of a bright red scarf, the same color as the one Billy had been wearing that morning, at the front of the crowd. There were two people standing atop the podium leading the queue, looking quite calm among the pulsing and screaming groups. For a moment, Teddy saw Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd standing there, smiling and looking placid--then whatever had been creating that particular illusion flickered and dissipated, replacing the middle-aged couple with an imposing duo. The woman stood tall, dark hair billowing in curls down her back, thick cloak wound around sharp shoulders. She was all hard lines and even harder eyes, making him feel like he wanted to leave, to run, the second he met her gaze. The man was impassive, hand raised as though he were directing someone, or some _thing_ , as the sun glinted off his silvery mask.

“Oh god…” Teddy hissed, realization building into fear as he watched the two descend, almost floating to the dirt floor in front of Billy. “Is that Doctor Doom?”

“And Morgan Le Really Fucking Sucks,” Tommy muttered, already snagging Teddy by the crook of his elbow and hauling him out of sight. “Or whatever the fuck her name is.”

“Let me go,” he growled, prying his arm from the other’s grip with ease, though he’d already been dragged a few hundred feet away from the action. They were hidden from view behind one of the games booths, Teddy looking around the vibrant curtains to ensure he could still see the crimson twist of Billy’s scarf, could still make sure he was okay. “We have to go back. We have to get Billy.”

“And what’s your big plan for that, genius?” Tommy asked, leaning against the counter and tossing a dingy baseball in the air, catching it with ease each time it came down again. “Go in against two of the biggest baddest assholes this town has ever seen, green guns a-blazing?”

Teddy looked down at his hands, where the dark, thick claws had already started elongating beneath his own nails. He frowned. “I have to protect him.”

“Yeah, well you did a great fucking job so far.”

“I’m going back!” Teddy shouted, baring his teeth that were already growing and splitting into fangs. Hauling off his jacket as he ran, he imagined the smooth line of wings, skin stretched taut, giving him lift, giving him height, giving him some sort of an advantage, some sort of a chance. Even if he knew he didn’t have the slightest hope of winning, if he could just get Billy out of there, he could work out the rest after.

“Idiot,” Tommy whispered, turning on his heel and vanishing in a pale blur. The baseball completed its swinging arch in the air before falling to the dirt.

~~~~~~

“So _nice_ to finally meet you, Billy.”

“Fuck off,” Billy growled, feeling a lot braver than he was, especially considering who he was facing. He tried not the remember the fact that even the Avengers had been troubled by just one of the pair on their own, let alone both together. Honestly, he was surprised he wasn’t already unconscious or worse.

“Awfully bold for someone who knows what they’re up against,” the woman almost purred, closing the distance between them with a few floating steps. Her hands were cold when they settled against his face, and Billy wanted to shove her away, glaring up into her bright gaze, but he found his hands going limp almost the second he raised them to fend her off. All the clamoring and clashing around him faded to ambiance, a white noise against his thoughts.

“Good boy, Billy. Just come with us, and everything will be perfect.” Her voice was soft, smooth, and soothing. It lulled him to a heady place in the back of his mind, letting his consciousness drift aimless, untethered.

“Billy!”

There was a sound, something familiar, but he heard it through a fog, as though his head were underwater. He kept sinking, mind turning the sound over and over and over again on repeat until something clicked. It struck a chord within him, his body automatically trying to turn towards whoever or whatever it was, but her hands held tight, nails digging sharp little half-moons into the pale skin of his cheeks.

“No need to worry, my dear. You’re safe now. We will take good care of you.” Her eyes were glowing, a wicked red, and Billy knew that was wrong, knew something was somehow off about this whole situation, but he couldn’t get a handle on his own mind for long enough to reel it back from whatever depths it was being buried in.

“Billy!”

_That sound again, no, that voice._

It was something he had heard before, though the tone was tainted with fear and worry and anger all at once, and his bones ached with a desire to get closer, to break free and close the gap between him and that person. He struggled again, but she held tight, voice harsher now, full of acid and hate where before it had only been sugary sweet and light. “You will not move, William.”

“Billy!”

_Teddy._

“Teddy!” He shouted, mouth forming the words though he barely recognized the voice as his own, strangled and raspy against the swirling air around him. It was at that moment his brain decided to come back online, and Billy shoved as hard as he could at the woman, putting at least a fractional distance between them. “Get away from me!”

“Doom!” She shouted, eyes narrowed and full of rage, still pinning Billy in place with her gaze. “Get rid of our distraction.”

That’s when Billy saw him, a winged creature with Teddy’s voice and shape coming forward, pushing through the hard winds. He made to run, to get away from the witch and towards the blond but his body shuttered against a wall he couldn’t see, hands slamming again and again and again into an invisible plane.

Morgan laughed, the sound rich and hard, filled with enough malice that it forced a knot to clench and twist in the pit of his stomach. No matter how many times he hit his palms against the barrier, it didn’t even shudder. He knew that it wouldn’t be enough, that he wasn’t about to get out of this one with sheer force, that’s not how these things worked. And if he couldn’t get out, the chance that Teddy was able to get in was horribly slim.

He felt the crackle of energy surrounding his body, the anger and fear taking a new form in sparks of blue light arcing across his skin. Billy watched as Teddy neared their position, only to see a flash of silver from the corner of his eye and then Teddy was falling, hitting the ground with an impact that kicked up enough dust to block his view.

“Teddy!” he screamed, slamming his hands into the wall again, ignoring the rising sting of pain that rang through his fingers.

Behind him, he heard the slow chuckle of that damn woman, who didn’t seem to be doing much more than keeping him trapped here. “You poor thing. It must hurt, watching your lover prepare to meet his death.”

“You wouldn’t,” Billy snarled, rounding on her, eyes shining with an edge of blue.

“Oh? And why ever would I not? He is nothing more than an insect in this game, though I must admit, he is quite adept at his shifting,” she trilled, stepping close again.

Billy bristled, his heart thundering in his chest as he heard Teddy yell again, a sound closer to pain than anger. His body was fire, light, rage all at once, and everything was clear and hazy at the same time. He was aware of the electricity crackling along his skin, over his clothes, but Morgan didn’t seem the least bit phased by it.

“Leave Teddy alone.” His voice was low and dark, carrying more strength than he truly felt, given the situation.

The sorceress smiled at him, her eyes almost brimming with glee. “No, I don’t think we will.”

“Leave him alone!” Billy shouted. His body felt light, surging with energy he had no control over, voice echoing with all of the rage he had building in his chest. He felt both useless and out of control, but he need to stop this, needed to stop them from hurting Teddy. There was a vague feeling of power, of something bigger than himself arching outwards, hitting the barriers around them and smashing them to bits. Billy watched Morgan’s mouth open and close, her words falling upon empty air as the space around them was consumed by blue light. Everything went bright and then so, so dark.

_Teddy._

~~~~~~

“Billy!” Teddy screamed, watching the burst of bluish light spread out from behind and then beyond the wall. It nearly reached where he was wrestling the Doombot that had been sent after him. He staggered a few uneasy steps back, the shock wave catching him off-guard. The bot let off a screech before it crumpled to the ground in a useless heap, no more than three feet from where the blond stood. Teddy was sure to crush the central panel beneath his boot prior to taking off, running fast towards where he had last seen Billy.

_Please, dear God, let him be okay._

He ran faster than he thought possible, his legs pumping hard, muscles straining as he tried to make out the other’s shape among the settling dust. Something ran fast, too fast, by his side and left him behind. At his back, Teddy could vaguely hear people shouting, yelling directions and instructions to one another. But none of that mattered.

Nothing mattered but Billy.

Making sure he was safe, even if this whole thing hadn’t escalated too fast for any of them to comprehend. Teddy was cursing himself quietly, for not analyzing the risk, for not being more careful, for not putting more research into who these people could possibly be. Right now, he was even berating himself for not listening to Tommy, despite how much it annoyed him to think that the one person he hoped was wrong, may have been actually right.

“Billy!” he called into the swirl of grime and wind around him, hoping that the other was at least still conscious enough to call back out to him.

“--dy.” The voice was quiet, barely there, but Teddy heard it and took off in the direction it had come from, ignoring the sounds of fighting and machinery surrounding him. Somewhere among the dust, he heard Kate calling out, her voice a sharp sting of panic. He had to trust that they would be okay, that they could handle themselves, just for a little while longer. Teddy knew that Kate was tough as nails, but neither of them had witnessed a fight of these proportions, let alone been participants in it. After moving in quick succession through what felt like endless loops of confusion, he finally reached a clear area. He only had a split second to think about _why_ it was clear when he saw him.

Billy was in some kind of force field, by the looks of it, his limp body hovering a few feet above the ground and surrounded by a dull, reddish glow. Standing at his side was a smug-looking Morgan Le Fay, and he desperately wanted to punch that stupid smile right off her face. He realized a moment too late that it was impossible for Billy to have called out for him, impossible for him to even hear it among all the chaos.

A moment too late. There was a piercing pain in the center of his chest and the edges of his vision grew hazy. Teddy looked down, trying to parse the source of agony spreading throughout his body, only to see a metallic blade making its retreat from between his ribs. He knew he was bleeding, probably a lot, but he couldn’t see through the fog that kept drifting across his vision. His hands moved uselessly, shuddering across the sticky warmth of his chest, coming away streaked in crimson. Teddy felt his knees hitting the ground beneath him, felt the bite of gravel through his jeans, a mosquito bite compared to the gradual twist of pain arcing from his spine. Heat spilled down his belly in a slow trickle, and he could hear someone calling his name. It was quiet, but even as he lost consciousness, it was comforting.

Everything went dark.


	10. Stand Still and Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Cassandra!” Jonas’s voice sounded small but was filled with a tension she hadn’t heard before. There was no time to dwell on it, Cassie turned and reeled a few steps back, watching the metal creature dart towards her.
> 
> “I know!” she shouted, hauling back her arm and making a fist, just like her dad had taught her all those years ago, thumb curled gently along the bottom of her clenched hand.
> 
> _“Make sure you keep it on the outside, Cassie. Wouldn’t want to break your thumb, right?”_
> 
> Her fist connected with the hard planes of the bot’s face, which crumpled almost immediately under the pressure. Once the oncoming attacker had fallen to the ground, she shook out her hand with a hiss. “Ow, they’re _sharp_.”
> 
> Jonas looked at her then, a slight smile on his lips. While he had the Vision’s face, that expression was one she recognized as purely Jonas. “You could have just run.”
> 
> “What? And miss all this?” She gestured broadly, being sure to take out a few of the machines that were soaring towards them with the sweep of her arm. “Not a chance.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh you guys. This is it! The final chapter, and I’m so happy that you’ve all stuck with me to this point. There will be an epilogue at some point in the new year (might be mid-January since I’m taking extended holidays this year) and then side-stories as I finish them but that’s it for A Double Life!
> 
> Again, I want to extend heartfelt thanks to my very best beta-friends Kuchen and Melerune. You guys have been incredibly supportive during this whole process and I could not have been as productive without you. 
> 
> I also want to thank those readers who took the time to comment on nearly every chapter. Yokies, Bellasastuff, ConsultingFishTherapist--your comments gave me confidence to keep writing, to know I was heading in the right direction and that you guys enjoyed what I was sharing. Thank you so much!
> 
> [Please come visit me on tumblr! :)](http://amonaewrites.tumblr.com/) You can prompt me to write things, send me any questions you may have, or just share silly things with me (I love seeing you guys over there, I feel like I can interact on a more casual level).

**_“Can you feel that?_ **

**_Ah, shit.”_ **

_Down With The Sickness by Disturbed_

Everything was normal enough; Eli wasn’t being a complete asshole, though he was still sore that she had showed him up at the water pistol game, and Kate might even admit that she was kind of having fun.

Well, having fun until the screaming herd of people started running past them. That was never a good sign. Despite her best efforts to flag at least one of the strangers down, they darted by as though she wasn’t even there.

“What the hell is going on?” She heard Eli snarl beside her, his brow furrowed in frustration as he tried to push against the crowds and towards whatever it was they were running from. Kate reached for his arm just as the sky lit up in a burst of shimmering blue and everything went still.

All of the people that had previously been rushing past them, pulsing as one great wave, had all stopped at once. Their bodies were nearly limp, arms hanging at their sides in an eerie rendition of a mannequin’s pose. The quiet was almost worse than the eruption of sound moments before.

Kate felt a shudder run through her spine as her fingers found purchase at the edge of Eli’s sleeve. “What’s going on?” she whispered, barely able to finish her sentence before all of the surrounding bodies snapped to attention, heads jerking in one quick motion, all sets of eyes on them. “Eli… I think I need my bow.”

Fumbling in her pocket and trying to keep from sweeping her gaze the now-still groups around them, she managed to draw out her car keys. She passed them to Eli, pressing them hard into the palm of his hand, feeling the jagged metal dig into her fingertips. It helped, somewhat, to ground her. “Go. It’s in my trunk. Quiver too.”

“But what about you?” he asked, frowning even as he took the keys and clenched them in his fist. Eli would do what he had to, despite his reluctance; she knew that she could count on him for that. “I can’t just leave you here to…”

“Go!” She shouted, just as the bodies started to lurch forward in one, imperfect wave.

Things moved too fast for her to get a handle on after that. She brought up her arms in a defensive posture, sure she was about to feel the weight of impact, but all she felt was the wind whipping past her cheeks and an arm around her waist. Kate opened her eyes, unaware that she had closed them at all.

“What…?”

“Man, you guys really weren’t going to fight a horde of robots with just your fists, right?”

Thomas was grinning down at her, a pair of goggles blocking the majority of his face, though the giant smirk on his lips was obnoxious given the context. Kate grumbled, trying to shove at him as best she could while they were moving at way-too-fast a pace.

“Put me down!”

“Hey, stop squirming! You’ll get serious road rash if I drop you now!”

“You left Eli there, you great big jackass!”

“Who? Oh, your boyfriend? Nah, I got him.”

They stopped just as quickly as they had started and Kate had to lean up against the solid weight of the nearest vehicle just so she wouldn’t be sick. She held the back of her hand to her lips for a few moments while she focused on the concrete, trying to quell the roiling in her stomach.

“Kate, are you okay?”

“Eli?” she whispered, feeling his hand on her shoulder and peering through the thicket of her hair to see him watching her, worry in his eyes. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m… fine…” Kate stood, still a little shaky on her feet, to see that they weren’t just standing by any car, they were by her car. Her bow and quiver were already settled atop the hood. Thomas was standing near them, his foot tapping out an impatient rhythm while he swung her keyring about his index finger casually.

“Look, I know you two are going to get all mushy and look into each other’s eyes and shit but can you do that later? We should really get back in there.” He jerked a thumb towards the carnival where there was the obvious sound of fighting; the tail end of the sun’s light was glinting off of metal flying through the sky and a barely-visible blonde ponytail was swinging somewhere above the ferris wheel.

“Shit. That’s Cassie,” Kate murmured, turning to Eli and squaring her shoulders. “You wouldn’t stay out here even if I told you to, would you?”

“What do you think?”

“Try not to get killed, okay?”

Eli grinned at her. “Yeah, same to you.”

Kate shouldered her quiver and hurried back towards the park entrance, her boots crunching out a quick rhythm on the gravel beneath them. She wasn’t sure how much help she was going to be against a small army of robots, but she was damn well going to try. After all, Cassie and Ted were still in there, though she had to assume they were holding their own.

“Need a lift?” shouted the white-haired blur as Thomas whizzed past her, circling a few times before jogging in place.

She gave him a flat look, unimpressed by his antics. “Can you get me somewhere high? Someplace that has a good vantage point and a decent amount of cover?”

He grinned, giving her look like a schoolboy who had just gotten out of a week’s detention with nothing but brazen charm and bullshit. “You bet, m’lady.”

Before she could argue the logistics, or the title, Thomas had whisked her into his arms, clutching her tight against himself in a bridal hold as the air whipped past them. Kate belatedly wished for a ponytail, just to keep her hair out of the way instead of allowing it to whirl about and tangle at the crown of her head. They settled on the ledge of the bumper cars’ roof, Kate immediately ducking down behind the sign and taking stock of the numbers they were up against. It was too many.

“Can you get Eli back in here? Get him to help out? Get any civilians out of the line of fire?” She couldn’t see any people milling about below, but that didn’t mean they weren’t out there, hiding somewhere.

Thomas shrugged, seeming antsy and eager to move. “Sure. I don’t think any of these people were actually civilians, though. I’m pretty sure it was all one big trap.”

“What?” She frowned.

“I mean, they kind of all went Robo-Stepford on you guys, didn’t you notice? I don’t know if it’s science or magic or what but if you watch the way they move…”

“..They don’t move like people. They move like machines,” she hissed, watching for signs of motion below.

“Bingo. So I’ll go grab your boyfriend as long as you’re sure he can help and won’t just get completely pummeled.”

“Eli can take care of himself,” she replied with a nod. “And he’s not my boyfriend. Not anymore.”

Thomas grinned at her, that too-wide smirk that was almost bordering on insane. “Lucky for me.”

“Excuse me?”

Kate didn’t have time to argue, or give anything more than a shooting glare as Thomas took off again, disappearing as a pale zig-zag among the dusty tents and buildings. “Good luck,” she whispered, notching an arrow just as the shape of something crawled out from behind one of the buildings, a metallic torso with no legs. Kate chuckled, drawing back and taking aim, silently wondering if there was a weak point in a robot. “Leaving me to clean up after you, huh? Such a boy.”

Apparently their weak spot wasn’t too different from humans--an arrow straight through their creepy glowing eye socket seemed to stop them in their tracks.

~~~~~~ 

“J-jonas?”

“I am right here, Cassandra.”

She held tight to Jonas’s hand, her own trembling now that they were surrounded. It had all happened so quickly; they were enjoying each other’s company while seated on a bench, people-watching and then everything just _stopped_. Everyone that had been milling about stood stock-still as though they had been frozen in time. The silence was agonizing.

“What’s going on?” Cassie whispered, voice trembling as every face turned to them, glimmering in the late evening light, shifting somewhere between flesh and metal.

Jonas had stood, blocking her from view with his own body as a shield, right arm outstretched. “Stay behind me, Cassandra. I should have known, should have sensed this _illusion_ …”

Something happened then, a break in reality or maybe a shift back to what was visible just beneath the surface, but there were suddenly robots, not people, surrounding them. Cassie clenched her hands in her lap, trying to still the quiver running through them. “Jonas…?”

“When I give the signal, run. I can hold them off,” he replied simply, unmoving before her.

“I’m not leaving you here!” she shouted, motion breaking out all around them as they were approached on all sides. Cassie stood, though her knees wobbled and it took her a moment to gain her balance. She could see the surging mass of what had been people, what used to be couples and families, shimmer and shift into something not-quite-human. Where there should have been a face was only an approximation of one, two glowing slits for eyes and sharp lines in the general shape of a mouth, and there were dozens of them. It all looked like a scene ripped straight from one of Billy’s horrible science fiction movies.

“Go.” Jonas’s own image was shimmering, shifting to the Vision as he stood his ground. A cloak unfurled around his shoulders, sweeping a path through the snow beneath it as he took a hesitant step forward, arms still outstretched.

“I won’t!”

“Cassandra, please! GO!”

“I won’t leave you to fight on your own!” Cassie was screaming now, her voice growing louder with each word, and even without looking she knew that the ground was shrinking beneath her. “I can fight too!” She felt her clothes stretching, hardly bearing her new size as they pulled and ripped. Though she was hardly paying attention to modesty at this point, she was glad they held enough to cover her.

_Thank god for 30% spandex…_

One of the bots hovered off the ground, moving in a rising arch towards her left cheek while she watched to her right.

“Cassandra!” Jonas’s voice sounded small but was filled with a tension she hadn’t heard before. There was no time to dwell on it, Cassie turned and reeled a few steps back, watching the metal creature dart towards her.

“I know!” she shouted, hauling back her arm and making a fist, just like her dad had taught her all those years ago, thumb curled gently along the bottom of her clenched hand.

_“Make sure you keep it on the outside, Cassie. Wouldn’t want to break your thumb, right?”_

Her fist connected with the hard planes of the bot’s face, which crumpled almost immediately under the pressure. Once the oncoming attacker had fallen to the ground, she shook out her hand with a hiss. “Ow, they’re _sharp_.”

Jonas looked at her then, a slight smile on his lips. While he had the Vision’s face, that expression was one she recognized as purely Jonas. “You could have just run.”

“What? And miss all this?” She gestured broadly, being sure to take out a few of the machines that were soaring towards them with the sweep of her arm. “Not a chance.”

~~~~~~

Everything was both loud and quiet, all at once. His ears were ringing, and though Billy tried desperately to get his head to stop swimming, his vision floated somewhere between consciousness and the dark. He could hear someone screaming, and it took him several long seconds to realize that the agonized sound was coming from him. It took even longer to parse the visuals that were causing an aching, wracking sob to lurch through his body with every intake of breath.

_Teddy was…_

Nothing made sense. He couldn’t move; he was trapped in a space no larger than a closet, screaming without knowing if anyone could hear him. A giant version of Cassie was approaching, rage entangled in her normally-cheerful expression while she snatched robots from the sky and crushed them between her palms. There were others, like silvery fish darting through the water, that kept going for her back, her ankles, trying to take her out--but they were shot down just as quickly as they came by what looked like a laser blast. Something was moving too fast to see, leaving chaos and startling bursts of explosions in its wake and Billy was pretty sure he saw _arrows_ in some of the metal joints, sticking out at odd angles and making them look like shiny pincushions. He knew he was hallucinating when he saw Eli _punch a Doombot in the face_. Yeah, that would never happen. And among all of this chaos, his eyes still fixated on the motionless form of his boyfriend, mind trying to ignore the quickly-pooling darkness around him.

_Teddy please… please get up. Please be okay. Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease…_

Somehow, though he couldn’t hear his own voice, he could still hear _them_. And they were **still** talking.

“I don’t believe you accounted for the others having abilities as well, good Doctor. Your information was less than flawless.” Morgan reclined on what used to be the sign for the fun house, examining her nails as she leered at Doom. His focus seemed to be directing his bots which, Billy noted, were being crushed left, right, and center.

“No, though I believe that was part of your task, Morgan. It appears you have failed me yet again.” His voice was flat, stern, and he didn’t even bother to look in her direction as he spoke.

“I have not failed!” she screeched, standing and pointing towards the swirling bubble of magic she had trapped Billy within. “I have the boy! She **will** come!”

_She? Who are they trying to…?_

His head was aching and Billy pressed his palms flat against his eyes, watching the light spark beneath his lids. Hr focused on his breathing, the inhale-exhale motion that he couldn’t hear, but he could still _feel_ it, still feel the rise and fall of his chest. When his eyes opened, focusing past the blurry spectrals dancing in his periphery, he saw the same rise and fall in the lines of Teddy’s back.

“Teddy,” he whispered, trying to block out the sounds of the quarrelling villain duo in favor of focusing on his boyfriend.

_Please, Teddy. You can do it, I know you can. You can get up, you can beat this…_

_You’re so strong._

_Please be okay. Pleasepleasepleasepleasepl--_

Billy’s eyes started a subtle shift from a deep chestnut to a glowing azure, tiny bursts of light arcing along his shoulders, down his arms, across the backs of his hands, and over his palms, which were still pressed hard against the invisible barrier. He could feel the power welling inside of himself and flowing out, moving past the wall he couldn’t breach, whispering its way to the far-too-still form of the detective.

“Why on Earth do you believe some young brats with powers will draw her out, after all this time? You think I haven’t been looking? You think I haven’t searched this God-forsaken planet time and time again?”

“You imbecile. Do you not understand who they are? Who their very _souls_ belonged to?”

“They will not call forth the Scarlet Witch if _she_ doesn’t know who they are!”

_The Scarlet Witch? What does she have to do with this?_

That almost broke his focus, almost; then he saw the steady motion of Teddy rising from the dingy ground, his limbs shaking only for a moment before he stood strong and tall and whole. His clothes were ruined, blood-stained with a gaping hole where the blade had gone through him, but that didn’t seem to matter when he caught sight of Billy and nearly _roared_ with anger. The others stilled, and even the Doombots seemed to take pause. Before he could really wrap his mind around what was happening, Eli was shouting orders and everyone seemed to be following them.

Everyone except Teddy.

Teddy had taken off from the ground with a pair of huge, leathery wings. His skin was changing before Billy’s very eyes, peachy smoothness twisting to hard panels of green armor, fingers morphing into deadly-looking claws. Teddy’s focus was honed in on Billy and nothing else, his blue eyes filled with such anger and fear that he didn’t see Morgan stand from her perch and float down to the podium next to Doom.

“Teddy, NO!” Billy screamed, slamming his hands against the field around him, knowing it was useless to yell but he had to try _something_. He didn’t know what Morgan had in store, but he knew that whatever it was, it couldn’t be friendly. Anything he had read about her, anything he had seen in the records indicated she was one of the most powerful magic-users out there, right next to the Scarlet Witch. His vision was blurring, eyes brimming with tears as he shouted out as loud as he could, knowing his words could never reach Teddy’s ears, not while he was trapped in this strange space.

Even as his mind screamed useless obscenities, his body grew taut and sparks leapt across his skin. Billy kept speaking, words forming without any audible connection as he watched the blond get closer and closer and closer and if he didn’t do something, anything, it would be too late and this time Teddy might not get up and--

Everything went dark and then bright, his eyes filling with light as it overflowed from his lithe form, taking up all of the space in his tiny prison. The walls bulged and twisted, fighting against the pressure he was forcing against them, against the power he didn’t even realize he’d had. Billy vaguely noted that attention had shifted to him, though he didn’t care. He had to get out, he had to stop this, had to stop them from hurting Teddy.

_Never again._

~~~~~~

Teddy stopped short, not sure how to make sense of what he was seeing. Everything became too bright, just for a split second. When he blinked away the motes he could only stare as Billy’s form hovered in the sky, crackling blue and bright and powerful. The fighting behind him had resumed: he could hear Eli barking orders over the din; someone screamed in anguish, after the gristled crunch of bone breaking snapped through the air; the bright, sizzling sound of metal melting under extreme heat. Doom and Morgan had vanished from their respective podiums, possibly regrouping after things had gone awry on them, and he knew his window of opportunity was shrinking fast. He pushed up and off the ground where he’d stalled after the sky lit up like a flashbulb, climbing through the dark skies towards the light surrounding Billy.

The air was thicker here, somehow, crawling down his throat and forcing him to fight for every breath as he struggled higher. His shoulders screamed in agony, the motion of flight unfamiliar and difficult enough without having to push his way through what felt like a maelstrom of light.

“Billy!” His voice was carried off by a gust of wind and Teddy brought up his arms to protect himself. Static was crackling along his skin, hot and sharp, but he ignored it, moving ever closer to the core of the storm. Everything was so bright here he could barely see, squinting his eyes and focusing only on the brightest point, where arcs of blue roiled along the dark spot of Billy’s form.

_Billy, please…_

He got close, close enough to reach out and brush a gentle hand against the other’s cheek, a flash of pain running up his arm from the action. Billy blinked, his eyes losing some of the ethereal hue as they regained focus.

“Teddy?”

Teddy grit his teeth against the pain coursing through his body. He knew Billy wasn’t doing this on purpose, that his body was probably going into overdrive on his own, but it was all he could bear not to flinch or pull his arm away. “Hey,” he offered, trembling fingers moving to weave through the soft, dark strands just above Billy’s ear.

Bright blue eyes deepened to brown just before shuttering, the light that filled the sky flickering out like a bulb turned off. He didn’t have even a second to think, to get a handle on what was happening, before Billy paled beneath his hand and went limp.

“Billy!” he shouted, arms moving to catch the other’s dead weight. The motion set him off-balance and for a moment they tumbled towards the ground, Teddy struggling to right them again. He managed, somehow, and carried Billy away from the carnage as best he could, settling into a small alcove between two large buildings. He pressed his palms gingerly to the other’s cheeks, feeling the warmth beneath them and the steady inhale-exhale of his breath. Teddy sighed in relief, cradling Billy against him as he looked to the battle behind them. Everything was chaotic, but he could see Cassie’s shape rising tall above the buildings and the arrows could only be Kate’s doing, though he couldn’t spot her position. He needed to get back out there, to help, but he was so reluctant to leave Billy’s side, especially since it seemed that Doom and Morgan were so intent on capturing him. For what purpose, he still didn’t know, but Teddy assumed it wasn’t for a nice afternoon chat.

He was debating between taking Billy with him and leaving altogether or trying to hide him in the small corridor while he went back out into the fray when a flash of red and gold soared through the night sky, lighting up a row of Doombots with a series of rapid fire shots from the repulsors. The light from the blasts gave him enough time to spot the villains--Le Fay and Doom had moved to a new location near the ferris wheel, but they didn’t appear to be phased or harmed by Billy’s power surge. He supposed it had been too much to hope for, that they would just disappear and let them clean up the remaining Doombots in peace.

“Sorry we’re late to the party! Seem to have misplaced my invitation.” Iron Man’s voice was tinny as he breezed past where the pair were huddled, quickly enough that Teddy’s hair stood all on end for a moment.

“How kind of you to join us,” Doom sneered, taking a step back as he snapped his gaze to Morgan. “Do something about this, will you?”

“Inept fool,” she snarled, lifting her arms as the trailing edge of a crimson glow followed the motion. Murmuring under her breath, she turned too late to block the arrow that sank deep into the meat of her calf. Morgan let out a shriek and turned to the culprit, getting only a glimpse of another arrow coming in her direction before she leapt out of the way.

“Billy. Billy, can you hear me? We have to get out of here…” Teddy whispered, brushing a hand gingerly along a paler-than-usual cheek. “Please wake up…”

Billy only groaned, burying his face into Teddy’s chest. Heaving a sigh, the blond stood, prepared to try and find a route that took them away from the battle that was building before them. A month ago, if someone had told him that he would be watching a fight involving his friends, the Avengers, and some kid he was chasing halfway around the city for over a month versus Doctor Doom, Morgan Le Fay, and an illusioned army of Doombots--he wouldn’t have believed them. Right at that moment, he wasn’t even sure _he_ believed what he was seeing.

“Need a hand?” Tommy stood at the entrance to the little alcove, arms braced against the brick and trembling slightly. He had a cut somewhere above his hairline and a good chunk of his pale hair was stained a bright red. Though Teddy knew head wounds tended to bleed excessively no matter their severity, it was still alarming.

“Are you okay?” the detective asked, rising from the ground and holding Billy tight against his chest.

“Yeah, sure. What about him?” Tommy motioned to the limp brunette, a frown marring his features. “He better be okay, Altman.”

“He’s fine.” _I think._ “Do you know how I can get him out of here?”

Nodding, the other approached, arms extended. “Yeah. Give him to me.”

Teddy clutched tighter, hackles rising. “No. Just show me the way out. I’ll follow you.”

“You couldn’t keep up.”

“Try me,” Teddy growled, taking a step back when Tommy took one forward.

“Give him here. I can get him out of here and then come back for you.”

“No.”

“Damnit, Altman, just…”

Teddy frowned, brows knitting in a tangled heap. “Wait, what did you call me?”

“Seriously? We don’t have time for this. Give him over.” Tommy was approaching again, glowering. Something was off with Tommy--whether it was the way he moved, the intonation of his voice, or just the way he kept saying _Altman_ where he used to say _detective_.

“Thomas… When you showed up at my house, what were you drinking?”

“What? What the fuck does it matter what I was drinking?”

“Because you said I had shit taste in beer. I didn’t think you’d forget that so quick.” Teddy was looking for another way out, anything that would give them an escape route, his eyes darting around the narrow passage. The only way out seemed to be up, but with the narrow corridors, he knew he wouldn’t be able to get any height from his wings, their span was too large.

Tommy laughed, tossing back his head and brushing a hand over his face, smearing a crimson stain across his cheeks. “Look, you obviously hit your head harder than I did. Just give him here. We can argue about this later.”

“No,” Teddy snarled, murmuring a quiet apology under his breath as he drew back his arm and slung his fist into Tommy’s stomach. The other didn’t double over so much as he crumpled in on himself under the impact, green eyes flat when he looked up. Teddy was hesitant, his knuckles aching as he flexed them, noting how much that felt like hitting metal, not flesh and bone.

“I really wish you hadn’t done that.”

Tommy straightened, the illusion around him shimmering red for a split second. Teddy’s stomach churned at the flash of a blank metal face before it flickered back to the familiar cocky smirk. He curled himself protectively around the young man in his arms, crouching low and preparing to barrel through the imposter-Tommy if need be.

Turns out, it wasn’t necessary. Two seconds before Teddy launched himself forward, Tommy’s whole body stiffened and dropped, the illusion falling away completely as the metallic shell of a bot hit the ground, eyes dark. Teddy looked up, a warning growl already curling his lips, when he locked eyes with Black Widow, her brow peaked in mild curiosity. Any fight left him, his body relaxing the death-grip he previously had on Billy.

“Cap, found a couple more of them over by the spook house. You guys have a handle on Doom and Le Fay?” Widow turned from them, speaking in quick, hushed tones, though Teddy noted that she had angled herself between them and the mouth of the alcove. Whether it was to keep them there or to keep everything else out, he wasn’t sure, but he was grateful for a few seconds without someone trying to kill him.

He didn’t hear the response, but apparently it wasn’t well-received since Window made a quiet sound of discontent before turning to them. “Stay here,” she ordered, tone indicating no room for discussion.

“I can help,” Teddy insisted, already moving to stand.

Widow settled a hand on his shoulder, pushing him back to a crouch with a strength he should have expected, but didn’t--especially considering he probably had about two hundred pounds on her in his current form. “Stay here. Protect him. They have the other one, and if they get him too, it probably won’t be good. He can’t protect himself like he is now.”

“They have Tommy?” he asked, a quiver of worry in his voice. For the life of him he couldn’t imagine how they may have caught the speedster, so perhaps the image that the Doombot had been reflecting was true-to-life, down to the injuries. The thought made him queasy.

“Don’t worry. We’ll get him back in one piece. Not the first time we’ve dealt with these megalomaniacs.” Her mouth quirked at the corner in what could almost be considered a smile before she slipped out of sight, two blades in her hands that he hadn’t taken note of before.

Everything was such a blur from that point on, with the Avengers swooping in and then taking out Morgan with a hand from Kate, Eli, and Cassie. Doom took off when things started to get a bit too heated, but Iron Man was quick to jet after him.

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head, Cap. I’ve got ‘im,” he shouted as he executed a lower-than-necessary fly-by, ignoring the shouts he was getting through the communicator from a disgruntled Captain America.

Most of the non-Avengers had gotten out of the battle with nothing more serious than a couple of lacerations and some serious bruising. Cassie wasn’t so lucky; she had broken her arm and had to work her way through the excruciating shift back to her regular size before the paramedics were able to set it properly. Jonas was by her side the whole time, following her into the ambulance, his crimson face a shock to several of the young medics who hadn’t known him as his 1.0 version.

Billy still hadn’t woken up. Teddy refused to let him out of his sight, let alone out of his arms, despite coaxing from Kate, several concerned EMTs, and Captain America himself. So he wound up in the back of the ambulance, clinging to Billy’s hand and trying to coax his own skin back to its normal shape and shade. This was indefinitely harder than it should have been, since his mind was still on high alert from the battle, worried that at any moment someone was going to turn out to be someone they weren’t and he would have to fight all over again. But nothing happened during the long ride to the hospital, and despite the few moments Teddy allowed himself to be pried away while they ran some tests, he lingered outside the ER until one of the nurses finally took pity on him and led him up to the room where they would be placing Billy once he was through with the doctors.

It came as a shock to see the other bed already occupied and Teddy felt a guilty twist in his stomach when he realized exactly _who_ the occupant was. Sure enough there was a bandage along his hairline, remnants of a rusty hue staining the roots of the white-blond strands, the wound in almost the exact place it had been on the Doombot variant. Bruises were already blossoming along his pale forearms and there was distinct beginnings of a black eye starting above his left cheekbone. He was hooked up to an IV and a few sensors for monitoring, but his breathing was deep and steady, body heavy with sleep. It was the stillest Teddy had ever seen him.

“Shit, Tommy…”

_I should have gone back. I should have helped. I should have listened to him…_

Teddy let the guilt gnaw deep in his stomach as he settled into a chair beside the rickety hospital bed, watching the rise and fall of Tommy’s chest. At some point he must have drifted off, because he woke with a start when a nurse gently touched his shoulder.

“O-oh, I’m sorry,” he whispered, sitting up from where he’d slumped over the edge of Tommy’s bed and rubbing blearily at his eyes.

“It’s okay,” she said, a soft, reassuring smile on her lips. “I just thought you’d like to know we brought him in. He’s still resting, but it looks like he’s going to be just fine. The doctors want to keep him overnight, at least, see if maybe he will wake up. It looks like just a mild concussion and a few cracked ribs, but we do need him to open those eyes before we let him go.”

Teddy turned to the other bed, heart lurching in his chest when he saw Billy hooked up to wires and monitors. “Thank you.” His voice was flat when he answered as he hauled himself out of the chair and made his way to Billy’s beside. The nurse just bobbed her head in a quick nod before checking Tommy’s numbers and slipping quietly from the room.

Settling his weight on the edge of the mattress, careful not to jostle the young man sleeping upon it, he blinked the wetness back from his eyes. “Billy, I’m sorry…” he whispered, brushing dark strands from a pale forehead. “I was supposed to protect you from all of this…”

_“We can’t always protect the ones we care for.”_

“Who’s there?!” Teddy yelped, jumping up from his position as his brain slowly caught up to the realization that he hadn’t _heard_ the soft words so much as _felt_ them.

_“Do not be afraid, Theodore.”_ The voice floated through his mind without disrupting a single iota of air in the room. It send a shudder running down Teddy’s spine. He was about to shout out into the dimly lit room, to call for whomever it was to show themselves when she stepped from the shadows to stroke a hand over Tommy’s bruised cheek. “Poor thing…”

Teddy just about swallowed his tongue. Standing before him, a deep red cloak wrapped securely around her shoulders and dark hair spilling like waves down her back, was the Scarlet Witch.

“Please, Theodore. Call me Wanda.”

He gulped in a breath around the lump in his throat as she approached Billy’s bed and he couldn’t help but stand between them, brows knitting together on his forehead.

She paused, a thin brow raised at his protective stance. “I will not hurt him. I can promise you that much.”

Though he was reluctant, Teddy stepped aside and watched cautiously from the foot of the metal frame as she leaned over Billy’s still form, whispering something just barely under her breath. Wanda was frowning when she pulled back.

“What? What’s wrong?” he asked, unable to keep himself quiet, and was nearly shouting to be heard over the pounding rhythm of his heartbeat.

“I did not expect his powers to grow so exponentially, so soon… There must have been a catalyst.” She was threading her fingers through his dark hair, pausing the movements after only a few seconds. “I _can_ help him to wake.”

“But?” _What’s the catch? Magic always has a catch._

“But, I will have to take something from him in order to do so. Magic is not without its limits; to gain something one must lose something of equal value in return. For the time being, he will not open his eyes, not without intervention. There is a strong magic within him, but he does yet have control of it. It will overwhelm him before he could obtain enough strength to understand what is it he holds. He is warring within himself, fighting against too much power. If I could seal it from him, he would wake.” She watched Teddy, waiting for him to speak. When he didn’t, she continued, voice quiet and warm and soothing. “He will not remember you. Or any of this.”

_What?_ Teddy felt his stomach drop and he had to clutch the footrest at the end of the bed just to keep himself standing on uneasy limbs. He swallowed around the tightness in his chest, glancing up through his lashes at Billy’s still form.

_No. This can’t… this can’t be happening._

As he watched, waiting for something, _anything_ to happen that would make it all okay, Teddy realized that Billy wasn’t just going to snap out of this. He wasn’t going to wake up. Not if he didn’t have help. He tore his eyes away from the student’s prone form, determination in his eyes despite the tears flowing down his cheeks.

“Is this the only way?”

“I am truly sorry.”

“Fuck,” he hissed, pressing the heel of his hand hard against his eyes, trying to staunch the flow of pain. “Okay.” Teddy’s voice shook, and his arms trembled where they held fast to the bed frame. “But on one condition.”

Wanda watched him, expression curious as she spoke. “It would depend on the condition, but I will grant you what I can.”

“Take mine too. My memory. I don’t… I don’t want to know if he doesn’t… if he doesn’t remember _us_.” His voice had been steady, strong, but he choked on a sob at the last word and pressed his knuckles against his lips to halt the sound. It was loud and out of place in the quiet of the room.

Teddy was so focused on silencing the heaving of his own chest that he barely registered any movement until her arms were around him. The cloak was warm as it encompassed him, and though he was taller than her, he felt as small as a child in Wanda’s embrace. His limbs were heavy, leaden, and when he tried to struggle against it she began to sing, voice calming and soft as it soothed away any of the fight that was left in him.

When his body felt as though he were floating along on a stream, he sensed his mind starting to trail away without him. He vaguely recognized the fact that he was being moved, settled into a chair with his head pillowed on the edge of the bed. There was a soft murmur, fingers lacing gently through his hair, and a delicate kiss pressed to his temple.

“Sleep, Theodore. Everything will be better in the morning.”

_Everything will be…_

~~~~~~

When Billy managed to pry himself from the cold arms of slumber, everything hurt. His body felt like it had been been through the wringer and it was all he could do to pull himself into a semi-seated position. He remembered something about a fight, but the details were foggy, blurred around the edges like a photograph left too long in the sun. The sound of hospital machinery put a crease in his brow and when he was able to get more than a hazy rendition of sight back, his eyes went wide. Standing at the end of his hospital bed was the Scarlet Witch. **THE** Scarlet Witch.

_Holy shit._

“Hello, William.” The expression on her face was somewhere between serene amusement and gentle confusion, and while he tried to puzzle his way through _why_ she might be in his hospital room, he took note of the other person at his bedside. Slumped over the edge of the mattress, his hand fisted in the sheets, a blond man looked like he was in the middle of a nightmare.

_Oh wow. He’s hot. Wow, um, not exactly the right time to be ogling the mystery-stranger._

That’s when he noticed her fine-boned fingers twisted in golden hair.

“What are you doing to him?”

“Only as he requested,” she answered coolly, her gaze flicking between the pair for a moment before she removed her hand. Billy could see the crimson wisps lingering between the connection, drifting like smoke through the air.

Grasping a hold of his temple, trying to quell the onslaught of pain that shuddered through his skull, he frowned. “Why are you here? Why is he here?”

“I am here to help you, William. When the time is right. And don’t worry about him, he will likely leave when he wakes.”

The man was familiar, so familiar, and the thought kicked up a tremulous thundering in his chest. 

_I know him._

_I **know** him._

_Who is he?_

_Why don’t I remember?_

_I want to remember._

_IwanttorememberIwanttorememberIwanttorememberIwanttorememberIwanttorememberIwanttorememberIwanttorememberIwanttoremem--_

Everything flashed bright and clear and when the light faded back to the gentle dim it was before, Wanda Maximoff was gone.

“Teddy,” Billy whispered, his hand trembling as he reached towards the blond, who remained so _so_ still at the end of his bed.

There was a quiet groan and then Teddy was moving, shifting against the scratchy hospital sheets and prying himself up on his elbows. He looked like he hadn’t slept in a week and when their gaze locked, blue eyes went wide in shock.

“Oh, god. Are you okay? Should I go get someone? Um, I’m not sure what I’m… doing here…?” he looked startled and confused and emotionally distraught all at once. Under that was a layer of barely concealed fear and a twist of worry, everything getting jumbled on his features until it was one big mess of ‘what do I do’.

Billy realized he was crying. _That_ was why Teddy looked so concerned, why he was reaching out with such hesitance. He was watching him with a cautious reluctance, as if it were a stranger bursting into tears in front of him. For all Billy knew, he was as good as a stranger to Teddy.

_Well, this is awkward._

He managed to rub quickly at his eyes with the back of his hand, shaking his head and offering the best smile he could. Given the situation, he was sure he looked like a psychopath, but Teddy was still watching him with that same bewildered concern.

“You don’t know me?”

“I’m sorry, should I… know you?”

There was such kindness in the blond’s voice, like he hadn’t just woken in a strange hospital room with some strange young man bawling his eyes out, asking all kinds of strange questions. Billy started to laugh, his voice trilling on the edge of hysterical. He clenched his hands into fists against the blankets, ignoring the dull throb of pain through his palms as he did so.

_Please…_

_Please don’t let me lose this._

_I want this…_

_I **need** this._

_Please, please, **please** let him remember._

_Please let him remember me. Remember us._

_Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplasepleasepleasepl--_

A moment shuddered and flickered in time, and from a distance, nestled among the shadows, Wanda smiled while she watched her son find his powers all on his own.

“A catalyst, indeed,” she whispered, the light distorting all else in the room to nothing but angled, twisted shapes on a blue-white backdrop. Then just as suddenly as it came, the light was gone, and so was she.

~~~~~~

“--ly? Billy? Can you hear me?”

“Nggh… Teddy?” Billy squinted his eyes, head pounding while he tried to focus. Warm, strong hands were on his shoulders, gripping too tight in frantic worry. Teddy’s voice was lilting with relief, an undercurrent of unease floating just beneath the surface.

“Oh thank god. You weren’t responding, and there was light everywhere, and I didn’t know what to do and--”

“Teddy?”

He stopped speaking, frown marring his features. “Shit, are you okay? How many fingers am I holding up? Should I call the nurse?”

Billy laughed, clasping both his hands over the two fingers the blond was holding up, pressing his lips to their combined digits. “I’m fine. I’m _fine_ ,” he insisted when Teddy looked like he was about to argue. “We’re fine. That’s all that matters.”

“You’re sure you’re okay?” Teddy asked, holding the sharp lines of Billy’s jaw between cupped palms after wriggling his digits free from the other’s grip.

“I’m positive.” Covering the Teddy’s hands with his own, he leaned forward, pressing their lips together in a gentle kiss. He ignored the damp trails on his cheeks in favor of deepening their contact and he could feel Teddy relaxing under his mouth. Just when he felt the tension draining from his shoulders, Billy heard a soft sound, like someone clearing their throat.

“Aw, gross.”

Billy pulled away with a flush, glancing to the other bed in the room, which he admittedly hadn’t noticed before. The white-haired young man had turned to look at them, laying still though his head was rotated in their direction. There was something between a sneer and a smile on his face as he spoke again. “C’mon guys, some of us are trying to actually _recover_ in here.”

“Tommy! You’re okay!” Teddy was grinning now, though there was still the faintest hint of a flush on his cheeks.

“No thanks to you, Kermit,” he answered, trying to sit up and wincing before laying back against the mattress.

“Kermit?” The blond looked confused, frowning at Tommy before turning to Billy for clarification. “But it’s not easy being green,” he chirped in his best croaky rendition of the muppet frog.

Billy was trying hard to keep his laughter between pursed lips, his bruised ribs aching with the effort. Teddy made a disgruntled little huff and that was all it took to send him into peals of laughter which Tommy quickly chimed in on with his own barking laugh. Soon enough they were all laughing so hard that a nurse had to come by and shush them, though the moment she left they continued to giggle quietly behind cupped hands. Things may not have been perfect, but they were getting there. He may have been sitting in a hospital bed, and it hurt to breathe let alone move, but Teddy’s hand was entwined with his own and that was real and true and good. The grin on his face slowly started to dim as he came to a swift realization.

“Oh my god,” Billy wailed, tangling his free hand through his hair until it started to stand on end in wayward curls. “What day is it?”

“Wednesday?” Teddy offered, brow raised. “Why?”

“Tomorrow’s Christmas Eve, isn’t it?”

“Yes…?” The blond tilted his head, still unsure of the cause for alarm.

Billy felt his cheeks heat and he turned his eyes downward to the starchy white linens. “I… I didn’t get you a Christmas present. I mean, it’s not like I really celebrate it, not in a totally traditional sense, but I knew you did and I thought it might nice to get you something and I… I meant to go today but… Well.” He gestured to himself as well as he could with the bandages around his ribs.

“Hey, look at me,” Teddy whispered, his hand edging beneath Billy’s chin and forcing his reluctant gaze up. “Getting you back is the best present I could ask for. I don’t need anything else. I love you.”

“I love you too,” Billy answered, finding himself smiling as they bridged the small gap between them, his arms coming up to wrap around Teddy’s neck, despite the strain on his aching ribs. They kissed, slow and sweet and needy, just as a loud noise of complaint filled the room.

“Aw, c’mon guys. Save that for when you have a private room,” Tommy wailed, accompanying his words with over-exaggerated gagging noises.

They ignored him.

 


	11. We Could Be

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a quick wrap-up a few months after the events of Chapter 10. Thank you all for such an wonderful journey with this, and here’s to an amazing New Year in 2016!

******_“We could hide away in daylight_ **

**_We go undercover, wait out the sun_ **

**_Got a secret side in plain sight_ **

**_Where the streets are empty, that’s where we run.”_ **

_ We Could Be Heroes by Alesso feat. Tove Lo _

 

“Is it good? Does it look straight?”

“Hm… A little to the left. No. Back. Yeah, that looks good.”

Teddy Altman stood back from the brick wall and admired the result of their hard work. A small plaque was now facing the sidewalk, proudly boasting the names of “Bishop and Altman, PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS” to any who happened to meander past.

He took a deep breath, staring at the letters as though he expected them to jump out at him or tumble to the pavement. “It doesn’t seem real.”

“Just wait until we’re up to our eyeballs in clients. Then you can tell me about how it doesn’t seem real,” Kate replied, nudging his side before jangling a thick keyring just out of his line of sight. “What do you say? Should we start re-arranging shit up there? Making it more ‘homey’ or whatever?”

“We could always get a potted plant?” He offered with a cheeky grin, as they unlocked the door and opened it into the narrow stairwell, heading up the rickety stairs two at a time.

“What? So I can kill it?” she teased right back, laughter lilting through her voice as they crowded into the entry of the small office. 

“Didn’t say it needed to be a live plant,” he answered, tugging off his light spring jacket and tossing it over the coat rack haphazardly. The space was small, slightly drafty on certain days of the week, and barely had enough room for the two small offices and miniscule reception area, but it was theirs. Teddy found himself grinning at the sparseness of it all, turning to see a soft smile working at the corner of Kate’s own mouth.

“We really did it, Ted. How does it feel?” She moved to sit on the front desk, one they had rescued from a pawn shop and nearly put through the wall getting it up the narrow stairwell. There was still a scrape along one side they would need to repair.

He settled against the edge of the surface, listening to it groan as it bore their combined weight. “Weird? I guess it hasn’t really settled in yet that this is all ours.”

“No more hovering supervisors…”

“No more paperwork that rolls in from other departments…”

“No more bad vending machine coffee!” They both shouted in unison before bursting into high peels of laughter, the sound bouncing back at them off the brick walls. 

“Am I interrupting?” Billy stood in the doorway, hand poised to knock and his brow raised with mild amusement. Under his left arm, he carried what appeared to be a small, potted tree.

“Billy!” Teddy exclaimed, pushing off the desk and moving to pull his boyfriend into a tight hug before holding him out at arm’s length. “You made it!”

“Said I would, didn’t I?” he teased, swiftly pressing a quick kiss to the blond’s cheek before leaning around to wave at Kate. “Hi Kate.”

“I see you brought us the first of many office sacrifices in the name of greenery.” She motioned to the plant under his arm with a grin.

“Huh? Oh.” Billy glanced at the tree and held it out. “Wasn’t my idea. Mom said I should bring it to liven up the place, or something.”

Teddy narrowed his gaze at Kate before taking the pot and settling it into a relatively sunny corner. “We will try our best not to murder the gift-tree, right, Kate?”

She offered him a cocky half-salute in reply. “Yes, sir!”

“Tommy is rubbing off on you,” he mumbled, shaking his head as she chuckled at him. 

A breeze whisked through the office, rustling the leaves of the tiny plant. “Only when I’m in the mood,” Tommy chimed with a waggle of his brows, settling himself behind Kate, arms around her waist in a lazy, but familiar, movement. 

She rewarded him with a swift smack to his ear. “Don’t be crude.” 

“You love me when I’m crude.”

Kate didn’t deign to offer up a reply to that, simply shaking her head and glancing between the men around her. “Okay, so here it is, empty files and all.”

“Oooo,” Billy started.

“Aaaaaah,” Tommy finished.

“That still kind of gives me the creeps,” Teddy said, holding back a smile with considerable effort. 

“It’s a soul-twin thing,” they said at once, giving each other a short look before laughing.

“Okay, that had to be rehearsed.” Teddy knew that the pair had sat down a few days after the events around Christmas, Tommy explaining everything he had known about their history, their past, in quick, stuttered breaths punctuated by extensive pacing and exaggerated hand movements. He knew this, since Tommy had come peeling into Teddy’s apartment while the couple was watching a movie on the couch, curled under a blanket and already half-asleep. Though irritated, Teddy had retreated to the balcony to give the two some privacy, and to give Tommy an opportunity to explain the reasoning behind everything without the risk that Teddy might strangle him if it turned out he had been hiding information. Which he had, but after the detective calmed down and stopped himself from shifting into several shades of green, he knew that the knowledge about the Scarlet Witch and her long-lost children’s souls would not have helped them in the long run.

“Ted, you ready?” Kate had drifted away from Tommy while the blond had been lost in thought and he grinned. 

“Yeah. Let’s go.” He cleared his throat. “And celebrate the opening of Bishop and Altman, Private Investigators!” Billy clapped politely and Tommy let out a whooping cheer before they all moved back towards the narrow stairwell. 

“I still don’t see why you insisted on putting my name first,” Kate muttered as they made their way onto the street and down the block, steadily progressing to the small restaurant where the rest of their friends and family would be gathered to join in the celebration.

“Because without you, this wouldn’t have been possible.” He scruffed a hand over the back of his neck, letting the twins inch ahead of them, arguing semantics about some television show or other while they moved further and further away. “If you hadn’t put up the down payment…”

“Hey. We weren’t going to talk about that, remember?” Pushing hard at his shoulder, she offered a lopsided smile. “Besides, I wasn’t about to let something that small get in our way. You’re a great PI, Ted. You deserve a chance to really show it. We both know we weren’t going anywhere at the precinct, not with Rick the ogre hovering over us.”

“Yeah, but…”

“Nope! End of conversation, and may it never be brought up again,” she chimed, holding up a hand in a mockery of a pledge before sliding a smirk towards him. “Now come on. We’re supposed to be having fun tonight, remember?”

“Okay, okay.” Teddy replied with a huff, spotting Billy and Tommy waving at them from outside the restaurant. 

“Hurry up, slowpokes!” Tommy shouted, hands cupped around his mouth.

Teddy saw Kate roll her eyes and he chuckled. They hadn’t been together long, only a month or so, but somehow Tommy and Kate seemed to work with one another--when they weren’t arguing or locked in some sort of internal competition. It made for odd movie nights: where it used to be just Kate and Cassie or Kate and Teddy, it was now an odd combination of Kate and Tommy, Teddy and Billy, Cassie and Jonas, and on occasion, Eli. The latter had become absorbed with his schoolwork and a side project he wasn’t about to elaborate on, but no one pressed him--they would know when they needed to, or if Eli chose to tell them at all.

They had almost reached the restaurant when Cassie came barrelling out from the interior, Jonas close on her heels. She was waving her arm, the communicator they’d received from the Avengers flashing a bright red “YA” on the screen.

“Call to assemble, guys. There’s a two-bit villain tormenting people over on Broadway. Thinks he’s the new Shakespeare, but with an upgrade: a freeze-ray.”

Teddy frowned a little. “Seriously?  _ Now _ ?”

Jonas nodded and shed his guise as he stepped outside, his red lips pursed. “Unfortunately. The Avengers are tied up with an off-coast issue, which is likely why this man believed he was safe.”

“Right.” Heaving a sigh, he looked to his friends. Kate had pulled her Hawkeye mask from her purse, grin on her features as she settled it into place and unzipped her sweater to showcase the edge of her uniform. Tommy was gone and back again from one blink to the next, cocky smirk and green suit all in place as he snapped at the band of his goggles. Cassie pulled back her hair and tugged off her clothes, revealing the suit that Tony had made for her after the first, nearly disastrous, transformation mid-battle before settling her eye mask into place. Jonas gave a short nod, cape flowing behind him as he turned the Vision’s eyes across them all. And beside him, Billy was a bright shimmer of blue magic as the swooping lines of his costume materialized around him. 

Teddy cleared his throat and offered a smile before speaking, his own skin shifting and twisting into his own version of a battle suit. “Alright, everyone ready?”

“Young Avengers, Assemble!”


End file.
